


The Fifth Triumvirate

by Potential Violet (Potential_Violet)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Ancient Technology, Anxiety, Arrest, Attempted Xenocide, Ceremony, Clothing, Council, Covert Operations, Death, Desert, Elemental Magic, Fangirl, Fear, First Kiss, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Gem Homeworld, Gem War, Gen, Gladiatorial combat, Government Conspiracy, History, Interrogation, Intimidation, Library, Manipulation, Meeting, Mystery, Other, Prison, Racism, Red Eye (Steven Universe), Shapeshifting, Space Center, Speeches, Stadium, Swordfighting, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-05 08:11:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4172406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potential_Violet/pseuds/Potential%20Violet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Refacetting gives Peridot the time she needs to solve a seemingly innocuous mystery, but the answers that she finds pose questions of their own. Her pursuit of the truth leads her into the intricate web of the Authority, and into the gaze of the three ruler Diamonds. Homeworld's new leaders are as dangerous as they are ambitious, and Peridot's world is about to change...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Questions and Answers

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader, I warmly welcome you to the world of the Fifth Triumvirate.
> 
> I began this story during the second StevenBomb, mainly as a possible explanation as to why the Homeworld Gems left the Earth alone for 5000 years. As a result Peridot is written as she was before *ahem* certain character/plot developments. While canon hasn't outright invalidated the story, certain events/interactions in it now seem unlikely; I have therefore decided to end the story at chapter 10, which is actually okay(ish) because I managed to achieve the main objective.
> 
> It was incredibly fun to write, and thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts about it with me or favourited it, I really appreciated your input.
> 
> I hope that what I've said won't put you off reading the whole thing, but if it does then there are certain elements to it which may be of interest, and have yet to be fully explored by canon (as of 21/12/2015):
> 
> the red eye: chapter 3
> 
> different types (varieties) of gem
> 
> identifying individual gems where many others of their variety are present: chapter 5
> 
> the role of diamonds on Homeworld
> 
> the Authority
> 
> pearls: chapter 4 onward
> 
> how and why exactly the war for Earth began (and played out, and ended): chapters 9 and 10
> 
> gems in combat: chapter 5 (and 4)
> 
> And much more...
> 
> Finally, I invite anyone and everyone to build on the things that I've suggested: the OCs, the locations, the atmosphere, the ideas... it's all yours to play with if you want (though it would be nice if you just give me a mention if you do, and I'd love to read anything you create).
> 
> Thanks again.
> 
> \- Potential Violet

 

* * *

Things were slow at the Department of Clarity, and Peridot was not impressed. Sure, the Refacetting only happened once every thousand years, but Gems could live so much longer than that if they made smart decisions; people were just looking for an excuse to slack off.

It was ridiculous: the diamonds - and not even all the Shards, just the Yellow, the Blue and the White - picked new leaders, and so the world had to come to a standstill? Nothing was getting done because there was literally nothing _to_ do: no new independent projects had been started, neither the corporations nor the Authority had commissioned anything until after the Refacetting, the few people that actually came into the department didn't even seem to _have_ any ideas these days (though Peridot knew that if there were any ideas, their conceptors were going to keep them very well hidden until work started again, 'that's what I'd do anyway' she thought).

'Absurd. Absolutely absurd…' she muttered to herself. She still wasn't impressed.

But the overrated ceremony wasn't without its uses...

…

While she had worked as a planetary spotter, Peridot had come across an anomalous planet in one of her searches. The planet - known only by its number code - had all the makings of a viable target: a star in its main sequence, rich in heavy elements, a perfect distance from said star, a satisfactory distance from Homeworld and suitable average surface and crust temperatures. The other planets orbiting that star had been investigated, all were unsuitable due to either temperature or composition, but that wasn't the problem…

The problem was that the elements that this planet appeared to contain, in the proportions it was said to contain them, just didn't match her projections. The composition of the crust was almost entirely uniform (which was interesting in itself), and had higher percentages of the 'lighter' elements than the star and surrounding planets (and even debris) would indicate.

It was like some clod had tried to alter the planetary records - granted, they had done a fairly good job; if it wasn't for her keen eyes and near-obsessive attention to detail, she would have missed it completely - and failed. She tried to bring it up with her overseer a few times, but she was always less than helpful:

"Peridot, this isn't about that 'rogue planet' again, is it?"

"Yes. It is. But I... we need to solve it. It's an error, I'm sure of it."

Danburite sighed, bringing her hands to her temples. After a long pause she replied.

"Peridot, how often do the fast probes make a mistake?"

"Once every thirty million trips, projected. But-"

"So it isn't likely that that probe has made a mistake this time, is it?"

"No but-"

"So why do you insist on bringing up the same point every other month?"

'Because you keep missing the point every time I try to explain it to you, moron.' thought Peridot angrily.

"Because I don't think the problem lies with the probes. The anomaly appears to-"

"-appears to be in the database itself; yes, yes, okay, okay. Fine… Fine." Danburite sighed again. "Okay, here's what I'll do: I'll send a message to someone, okay, I'll find someone that works in astrogeology full time, and tell them what you've been telling me. But please, please, please, please _don't_ come back to me with this again. Ever. _I_ will get back to _you_. Okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Danburite." said Peridot with as much calm as she could manage; it was either excessive politeness or a total meltdown, and she didn't care much for meltdowns, they were a sign you were failing, and Peridot didn't care much for failing either.

She knew that this was as far as her queries were going to get within the spotting department, because nobody cared about some possibly-viable planet in some nowhere star system, especially not with some of the more exciting worlds much closer to home. Danburite wasn't going to be sending any messages to anyone at any time. The only person who would bother listening to her theory would be Bixbite, but Bixbite would listen to anything she said just because she was saying it. She really didn't need that kind of thing right now.

…

And so with all the free time that the Refacetting granted her, she decided to take the search into her own hands…

…

In Peridot's mind, the Icosahedron was more like the improbable fusion of an art gallery, a maths experiment made physical and a military bunker than it was a library. Roughly two-thirds of the angular structure extended out of the ground, and a broad, elegant white staircase led one from street level to the lofty heights of the oddly shaped black building.

Normally she would have been annoyed by having to walk from the nearest warp station, up the staircase and into the building - "Seriously, what kind of antiquated building doesn't have its own warp pad!? This is _the_ library!" she had once demanded of the scared looking Gem at the front desk. As it turned out, the converter that they used to generate the pocket dimensions interfered with the warp streams, so they hadn't installed a warp pad for safety. - but today she had time, so it didn't matter. People thought that she didn't enjoy anything apart from her work, but that wasn't actually true: she enjoyed the simple things as much as the next Gem, just not when there were other things to be done first; it surprised her that anyone got anything done when they spent so much time procrastinating.

Finally reaching the top of the stairs, she strode purposefully through the main entrance of the Icosahedron, disappearing into the building with a high pitched 'thwip' noise and a pulse of green light.

…

You could tell that something big was happening (or going to happen) elsewhere, because apart from the staff there was no one at the library; as she walked through the foyer, the only sound that she could hear was the knocking of her own boots on the floor. It was so quiet that she considered using one of the computers in the foyer for her search, but if she was right and someone _had_ tried to alter the planetary records, then… she didn't anyone knowing that she'd had a look at them before she had time to decide how she wanted to proceed. If there was something going on they'd be onto her very quickly anyway, but she didn't want to make it any easier for them to accuse her of anything.

Standing in one of the booths she typed in her request for a private study area, single user. She was good at finding information so she selected a two hour time slot, not that she thought she would need it: the usual queue of people waiting to use the facilities was absent. The holographic keypad and the screen disappeared, and the wall in front of her turned green, signalling her to step through into her allocated room.

Having been outside for the better part of the morning, Peridot reflexively shielded her eyes for a few moments as she stepped into the artificial light of the private study area. There were no windows (as was to be expected for a simple pocket construct like this), a single desk with a computer on it, lined and plain paper ('probably for the older Gems who still prefer that kind of thing', remarked an amused Peridot), an assortment of pens and pencils and a chair. Everything she imagined she could possibly need.

Four hours and thirty seven minutes later, she realised that what she was looking for had been buried, expunged from the database, or really was as the computer back in the spotting department had said. But it just couldn't be right; it just wasn't logical. Grimacing in irritation, she rose from the chair and walked back to the console to end her session.

…

"I need full access to the records. It's Clarity business." Peridot said lazily to the vibrant purple Gem at the front desk, displaying her badge.

"Oh, sure! Yeah, right away!" replied the Gem, all but falling out of her chair in surprise. Whether her shock was at someone being in the library, that the someone was talking to her, or that the someone was a member the clarity department, Peridot never bothered to find out.

Even if she was 'only' part of the research and development branch of the clarity department, she was still _in_ the clarity department, and that was enough for people not to question her further. The R &D Gems deserved more respect anyway, how would the field agents do their jobs without all the equipment that they designed and built, on site as well!?

When the purple Gem had called for someone else to attend the desk, she led Peridot to the back of one of the thick, square pillars surrounding the centre of the foyer. The pillar was clearly more than a pillar, because her guide began to press lightly on its brassy surface at certain points (which Peridot made sure to memorise, just in case it ever became… necessary to remember), causing dim flashes of light to appear where her hand had just been. She moved towards the space between the first pillar and its nearest neighbour, and Peridot followed suit. Where there had previously been the unbroken black surface of the highly polished floor, a tiny indentation had appeared: the indentation elongated itself into a line, from the two ends of the first line came two shorter lines at right-angles, and finally those two lines made a right angle turn, meeting in the middle.

The final result was a large rectangle, debossed into the floor; when a black cuboid began to slide silently upwards from the marked shape, the purple Gem looked over at Peridot with a stupid, expectant grin. Peridot sighed loudly and rolled her eyes, turning away from the easily amused purple nitwit; with the things she'd seen and used herself, it would take a lot more than polyalloy flooring to capture her attention.

They waited in silence until the structure had risen to its full height; when it came to an abrupt stop, Peridot looked through the archway that was cut into its length, down onto a staircase illuminated by strip lighting.

"Follow me please." said the librarian in a sour tone, clearly put out by Peridot's unfriendly manner.

She led her down the stairs into a large room with curved walls, completely filled with row upon row of shelves.

"Is this your first time down here?" asked the purple Gem.

"Yes, it is."

"Well there are four floors to the physical section of the library: the top two are for the most important books, which it was deemed necessary to keep physical copies of, the third floor is for documents, transcripts, blueprints, letters, stuff like that. The bottom floor is mostly empty space, ready to store more documents as time goes on. In the centre of each floor there are computers and desks; when you're finished with whatever you need, leave them at the desk on the relevant floor, we'll take care of reshelving them. You're gonna need a map, so here you are. It's kinda silly for a library, but its voice activated, so tell it what you need and it'll direct you, just follow. Yeah… I think that's everything… Oh! And remember, the library closes at six until after the Refacetting, because we're not getting much traffic."

With her explanation complete, the Gem handed Peridot a small silver ball and rushed off. Peridot was glad to be rid of her, and had a strong suspicion that the feeling was mutual.

Looking down at the sphere that had been hastily dumped into her hand, she immediately knew what it was. The robonoid was a relatively simple machine, but its versatile design could have as many variations as there were Gems in the world; this particular type had been a failed experiment in levitation (they hadn't been able to get them high enough off the ground for the kind of uses the contractor wanted them for), but had become very popular as pieces in games, ornaments and now as maps in libraries. The bottom line however, was that this was something else the world had to thank the R&D branch for.

"On." she said clearly before tipping the ball out of her hand, onto the floor.

The robonoid fell through the air as one might expect, but no sound was heard when it should've reached the floor, because it didn't reach the floor. The ball remained motionless, floating perhaps half an inch off of the ground, before booting up and projecting a neat diagram of the Icosahedron's lower floors. She thought briefly about what she needed to be looking for.

"Document… Offworld… Intergalactic… Galaxies… Spiral… Barred… Star Systems…" she said to the little machine, which disregarded more and more areas of the library, until she had zoned in on the relevant section.

'Typical.' she thought to herself. The shelves she would need to access were on the bottom floor, which meant more walking, but it could be a good thing, depending on how much or little that floor already contained.

"Take me to _this_ section." she barked at the robonoid.

And so the odd pair made their way through the little used section of the library: the rounder of the two gliding silently along the floor and down the stairs, the greener of the two clomping steadily behind.

...

The folder she had been looking for was a lot thicker than she'd expected. She had hoped that there was more information on her erroneous planet than she'd previously been able to find, but never thought there would be this much more. As she carefully slid the folder out of its position between those of the neighbouring planets, she realised that she had been right about the planet having a falsified composition: if her planet was as it appeared in the database it would be unviable, and an unviable planet would never have a file this thick - even planets scheduled for more detailed exploration didn't have files this thick; this was more like an in-progress report for a planet that was already being seeded...

She popped the translucent grey bubble surrounding the file, smiling as she did so (machine optimised compact bubbling: another idea from the R&D branch, thank you very much). With as much excitement as Peridot thought was appropriate, she brought the file to desk at the centre of the room. Sitting down heavily, she stretched her arms, took the pins out of her hair and shook her head, for once allowing her long, pale yellow hair to hang free. Now suitably comfortable, she was ready to get some answers. She turned the front cover...

…

_Homeworld Department of Planetary Spotting_

_Offworld Mineral Transmutation Status Report_

_Planet Number: 000505241908_

_Designation: Earth_

_Authorisation Class: Diamond_

_Authorised By: Empress Yellow Diamond, Hand of the Authority, Devourer of Worlds_

…

She hadn't even got to the first full page of text yet and she already had more questions than she came in with. Though the format was simpler than she was used to, this was definitely an official document from the department she used to work for. More importantly her planet had an official title; not just some affectionate (mawkish) nickname thrown around the office, an _actual_ designation; that meant it was viable, and the document itself meant that it had been explored _and_ seeding had already commenced at the time of writing!

But that title, that particular Diamond was from before Peridot had even found her way above ground and been inducted… And that seal… it was similar to the seal that the Authority used, and was in the same place on the document as the seal normally was; but why did it have four Diamonds instead of the three triangles? And what did the pink diamond mean?

Peridot wondered to herself, 'could this be from before the Inclusion Era?'


	2. The Shadow War

_Log date: zero, zero, three. Physical records from the Icosahedron shed light on the anomalous planet: 000505241908, designation 'Earth'. As predicted, planet contains less uniform crust composition than in spotting department database, and also contains higher percentages of heavier elements. New information confirms that seeding Earth would be practicable. New information also declares that seeding_ _**did** _ _occur, but was stopped well before completion. Stated reason for abortion of program summarised as follows: at some point a Rose Quartz - full name not given - takes offensive action against Homeworld in attempt to establish independent colony on Earth. Earth's Kindergarten is destroyed to prevent its capture and use against Homeworld escalating skirmishes to a war. Subversives are defeated at great cost to Homeworld, and exterminated, leading to abandonment of the Earth seeding program. Questions raised: who exactly was Rose Quartz? What possessed her to try and claim the planet for her own? Why didn't seeding of Earth continue when resources became available? …Who tried to bury this information and why? ...Did this Rose Quartz have ties to the Authority at one time?_

Peridot was reeling. She'd found the information she wanted and so much more during the last hour, she couldn't quite believe it. What was supposed to clear everything up had actually made things a lot murkier, and she found herself thinking up a colourful array of theories. The most persistent of these was that the Authority itself was trying to keep Earth, and any mention of it, as far from the memory of the public as possible; but why would they do that?

As much as she twisted and turned it around her mind, she just couldn't make the puzzle fit together coherently. But she knew for sure that there was something on Earth, or there had been, that was being suppressed.

…

Leaning back into the chair, she closed her eyes to concentrate. She needed a plan…

'Earth. Earth, Earth, Earth…' she pondered.

What she was dealing with was not common knowledge; she was young, but she wasn't _that_ young, and with her previous and current jobs she would have heard about something like this, if only a whisper. It was like anybody who'd ever come across the renegade blue planet had miraculously disappeared…

'Wait, that's it!' came the flash of realisation.

Gems didn't 'disappear' they were either shattered, or they went offworld; if it wasn't one of those two then the people who knew the truth were keeping silent. Only the Authority was capable of shutting things up like that…

The Authority was a proud and secretive group, and Peridot reasoned that whatever was being covered up probably wouldn't make them look very good in the eye of the public.

'A planet, a war, and serious attempts to divert attention… A defeat? …That sounds plausible.' she mused.

_Log date: zero, zero, three, part two. Past evidence already points towards intentionally falsified records; after careful consideration I conclude that the practice goes further than the spotting department. To my knowledge, no mention of the planet 'Earth' has ever been made, suggesting that those who know about it, and what happened there, have been silenced or are deceased. It is therefore likely that the outcome of the aforementioned war differs from what has been recorded. Current objective: locate and talk to someone who has been to Earth._

…

She closed the file and smiled in smug satisfaction. She had always been good at getting things done, especially those tasks which required a greater wit than most clods possessed. But as she closed her integrated computer and scooped up the robonoid to leave, she had to stop and ask herself what she was even doing. This was dangerous territory, and the wrong move could get her shattered, or worse, fired… She knew that there were risks, but it just wasn't her way to leave jobs half finished: it had gotten her this far in life, and she wasn't about to stop now. A part of her was even working with the idea that the Authority might commend her initiative, and move her into a more high-powered job.

Satisfaction rapidly turned back into deep thought; _nothing_ was going to happen, positive or negative, if she didn't find a Gem who had been to Earth, or at least _heard_ of Earth. But where was she going to find those people? If her theory was correct and Homeworld _had_ lost the war, then survivors would be both scarce and difficult to locate.

And then she chuckled aloud, amazed at her own brilliance. If Homeworld had lost the war then that would mean the Gems on Earth had won; if she could confirm their presence on earth then she'd be able to prove her theory. To take this further she was going to need surveillance equipment…

"You look like you found what you wanted." commented the Gem at the main desk cheerfully. The purple one whom Peridot had talked to before was nowhere to be seen. This one was grey, and covered in little black patches and dots, topped with a silky looking brown mohawk.

"Not just yet, but I'm going to…" she answered with an expansive grin.

"Great." she said, responding with a grin of her own. "I heard you were from the Department of Clarity, whatever you're doing must be pretty important for them to send you so soon after the ceremony…"

Peridot suspected that the librarian was looking for gossip to liven up her day; what she was up to would certainly make her day more interesting, but she wasn't ready to share her findings yet.

"Actually I chose to come here. I've turned this one into more of a personal project." she said cryptically.

"Oh… So do you have any other 'personal projects' going on at the moment?" asked the bespeckled Gem.

The question 'Why don't you mind your own business?' was just about to escape Peridot's mouth, when she realised what she was _really_ being asked. The flirtatious undertone made something click in her mind, and in a fraction of a second she had a good idea where that surveillance equipment was going to come from. Her grin took on a more playful nature.

"As it happens I don't."

"Wellllll, if you want to take a break from whatever it is you're doing, then I'd love to take you out sometime. We could go to some of the Refacetting festivities."

"Thanks, but I'm going to be busy with this for a quite a while." The Gem wasn't bad looking at all, and hadn't managed to annoy her yet (quite a feat for a stranger), but Peridot had a plan to execute. Right now, dallying with this forward individual had the potential to upset things. She would have to wait if she wanted to spend some time with Peridot.

"Too bad. I'm here most of the time anyway, if you change your mind. And if you can't find me, ask for Merly. Merlinite." she said, winking at Peridot.

"I'm Peridot." she replied plainly. "This belongs to you." she continued, holding out the robonoid to Merlinite.

She was just about to accept the metal ball when she noticed Peridot's fingers, and how they weren't physically attached to her arm; her eyebrow rose in surprise before she smiled again.

"I bet you have _a lot_ of fun with those." Merlinite said, taking the robonoid.

"Like you wouldn't believe." said Peridot as she turned to leave.

…

From the outside the Icosahedron was opaque: a sturdy looking building, seemingly made from a single piece of some matte, black metal; on the inside those same walls could be made completely transparent, as dark as the exterior of the building, and anything in between. Unfortunately for Peridot the view was good, but the weather was the exact opposite; the sky was totally grey, and it was raining heavily.

Looking out of the building sized window made her groan in misery, it'd been hot when she set out, and she had decided to forgo an umbrella. Still, a bit of rain wasn't enough to dampen her spirits; Merlinite had reminded her of something, of some _one_ in fact, that would make her life a lot easier.

It was time to reconnect with an old 'friend'…


	3. Inner Beauty and the Eye of the Beholder

Bixbite was at a loss; the worldwide holiday was just over halfway through, and she'd still heard nothing from Peridot. Though it was a holiday, she knew that she would probably be busy with work (Peridot always was) and so had only called a few times… thirty two, to be exact. She'd considered going to visit her at work because it was very rare that she was to be found in her room, but Bixbite realised that she didn't actually know where the clarity's departmental buildings were.

For a lot of the holiday she'd been listening intently for the 'ping' of a new message, or a call, or a 'buzz' at the gate; even vague, everyday noises had started to sound like communication tones. For a few days she was terrified that something had happened to Peridot: some of the things she'd heard about the Department of Clarity were pretty dark, and her imagination had been playing some increasingly horrifying games with her. But she took comfort in the knowledge that Peridot was cautious and smart, and if anything did happen then it'd be Peri who escaped (and Bixbite hoped that she would be the first person to come into Peridot's mind if she ever needed a place to hide; then they'd fuse in secret, assume a new identity and move somewhere far from the gaze of the Authority… it was wishful thinking, but it was a scenario she enjoyed thinking about).

But eventually anticipation gave way to boredom, and boredom gave way to despair. After making up her mind that Peridot wasn't going to get back to her, she'd accepted an invitation to go to one of the parties with some of the third class spotters; there she'd spent nearly the whole night taking extended looks at Gems which she thought might be Peridot, but none of them turned out to be, and though the night should've been good, her gem just wasn't in it. That morning she'd drifted back into her room and slumped into a chair, staring dejectedly out of window; waiting for some Peridot related event that was never going to happen...

So when her phone started to ring she didn't bother looking to see who it was, she figured that if they wanted her enough to interrupt her newfound appreciation of overcast skies, then they could leave a message.

_"Bixbite, it's Peridot. I haven't been able to answer any of your calls because I've been occu-"._

…

The last time Bixbite had this much of a shock was when she was an apprentice: a group of them had been sent to do maintenance work on a starship engine, and she had eagerly volunteered to make sure that the power couplings were doing their job properly. She gave the signal, the link was tested, and then she'd found herself receiving most of the energy meant for generator six. When she eventually regenerated the others were still laughing, but she was fine and had to laugh as well (after all, electrocution happened to her from time to time, and the others probably just misheard her instruction… yes, that was obviously what had happened).

Leaping from the sofa, the bright red Gem made a mad dash towards the hologram of Peridot's face. She tripped, but her subsequent fall was close enough for the phone to register it as the answer swipe, and for the first time in ages she was communicating with the green Gem of her fantasies.

'Victory!' she thought, gazing up at the hologram from the floor.

…

"Huh? …Bixbite, are you there?" asked Peridot, seeing no one on screen though the call had been answered.

"PERI!" Bixbite yelled, forcing Peridot to turn down the volume of the call. "Yes, I'm here! I've been calling you, where've you been? Are you alright? What've you been doing?" she asked excitedly, scrambling to her feet.

Peridot had forgotten just how high energy her former colleague was, and how high-pitched her voice was…

"I _had_ noticed that you'd been calling-"

"Oh good! I was wondering if they were getting through. I was beginning to think something had happened to you, you know; it's been so long since I've heard from you. How's the clarity, by the way!?"

"It's good, thank you: there's a lot of…" she started. It was easy to discuss the numerous advantages of her new department, but now wasn't the time to get side-tracked, "listen, Bixbite, are you still in the spotting department?"

"Yeah, I am! I actually- Oh. My. Gem! Are you thinking of coming back? You really should! I mean… only if you want to, obviously, but we've got a lot of new stuff… but not _too_ much, nothing you wouldn't pick up fast… It'd be great to have you back!"

"It'd be great to be back," Peridot lied through her teeth. In reality, she'd rather have an injector dropped on her than going back to being a spotter: the job was far too routine for her, and they'd taken too long to promote her to first class (probably because the first class spotters at the time loved having her work on their projects so much, she thought smugly), "but if its anything like it used to be then I don't think I could go back to being a second…" she said leadingly.

"Oh nonononono, it's… well… okay, you wouldn't know the difference workwise. But I'm first class now! Yay! So if you're thinking about coming back I'll make sure you work with me. -U -until you get promoted, I mean. I really don't know why they didn't promote you before. I'll make sure they take a serious look at you when you come back, if you come back… They're sure to promote you!"

Peridot laughed; their separation had done nothing to dampen Bixbite's incomprehensible fixation with her.

…

Bixbite had always amazed her: she had managed to combine being hopelessly lovestruck, with exasperating ditziness and an unparalleled flair for astronautics, and turned it into a mystifyingly successful career in planetary spotting. For all her eccentricities she was one of the smartest Gems that Peridot knew, and so she just couldn't figure out why she seemed to lose all reason whenever she showed her the slightest hint of intimacy.

But it was that that Peridot had been counting on; she needed some specialist tools and she needed them fast, and the only Gem that had both the know-how and that she trusted enough to help was Bixbite; if she had to use her desires to secure a huge favour then so be it. Now that she had confirmed the full extent of her usefulness, Peridot was prepared to put a lot more effort into indulging Bixbite's little fantasy.

…

"Thanks, Bixbite, I'll get back to you on that. And congratulations on your promotion, I know that's what you always wanted." She was genuinely happy for Bixbite. Less genuine was her intention of bringing up joining the department again.

"Awww thanks, Peri! It's everything I hoped for. And they gave me my own office, and workshop, and now I get to choose the work I want to do, mostly! I'd umm, love to show you around sometime, show you some of the things I've been working on…"

Through the display of her integrated computer, Peridot could see her start to play with the ends of her wavy red hair (though the screen made it appear green), one of the many things she did when she was nervous. 'Too easy.' she thought.

"I'd like that. I won't be doing much for the holiday, so if you're free we-"

"YES! Yes! I mean no… No, I mean yes! I'm free, I mean. All this week, and next, whenever you're free, probably."

"Great. But before that, do you have any plans for this evening? We should meet up. It'd be _really_ nice to see you in person." Peridot said seductively, making another reduction in the volume of the call as she did so.

"I am _so_ free this evening! Are you at home? Did you want me to come round now? Or did you want to come here? Or we can meet someplace else. I don't mind… I mean, I _do_ mind because it's important that we meet somewhere we both like, but I don't _mind_ mind. Hehe-he." she finished her rambling with a nervous laugh. 'Cool' was **not** one of her strong suits, as hard as she was clearly trying.

"I'll come to you; we can decide where to go from there. I'll see you in an hour and a half." Peridot said. She needed some time to steel herself for the evening, and Bixbite had a nasty habit of turning up very early to their arranged meetings.

"Okay great! Yeah I-"

" _blip._ "

Peridot's hologram disappeared from Bixbite's phone. She sighed happily and took a moment to enjoy her excellent fortune; so great was the difference between a quiet evening alone, and a quiet evening alone with Peridot. She couldn't wait. There was work to be done before her arrival though, and she sprinted upstairs to prepare.

Fifty shapeshifts later she had decided what to wear: a white dress, liberally decorated with pale pink flowers, and white ballet pumps to go with it; for her hair she'd opted for a single large plait. The dress was quite short, but with purpose - Peridot had made her blush once (though thankfully the red on red was hard to notice) with a comment on her legs, and if that's what she liked then Bixbite was both willing and able (there was quite a lot _of_ her legs) to oblige. Next came the matter of securing the changes; she began the hunt for her light destabilizer…

One regeneration later she was finally ready.

…

Most of the buttons on the gate that led to Bixbite's room were red, belonging to others of her variety. It was like they were drawn to each other, kept close by the same energetic and permanently cheery disposition; even thinking about it made Peridot want to take a rest. Luckily the button she needed was in the top right corner of the rectangular seal, number ten of one hundred and fifty. She pressed it and waited for a response.

"Hello? Who is it?" asked Bixbite expectantly, her voice seeming to come from the door itself.

"It's me." Peridot replied flatly.

"Oh yeah! I forgot you can't get in with your gem. Ahhh, but I wasn't expecting anyone else! That's not why I asked! And I hadn't forgotten you, I… let me just let you in."

"That's probably a good idea." Peridot shook her head slowly.

A number of randomly curving lines danced across the gate from its centre; then the pieces of the now divided door slid apart, allowing Peridot to step into Bixbite's room.

It was just as untidy as she remembered it: machine parts lay on shiny surfaces and in small groups all over the floor, clumps of rock and exotic looking drill bits could be spotted on shelves, there were even a few of what looked like tiny, patchwork injectors, slowly crawling across the walls and ceiling. Charts, diagrams and mirrors were to be seen all over the walls (except where the windows were) and on makeshift screens that provided extra space for them.

'This is hideous,' Peridot thought to herself, "just… ugh."

She didn't have to think about it for long because soon after the gate closed behind her, Bixbite slid down the helical banister of the staircase and made her way through the obstacle course to greet her guest.

"Hey, you're here! And you look amazing!"

In place of her standard bodysuit, Peridot had worn some baggy, high-waisted trousers and a tank top, both in black. When she returned from the Icosahedron she couldn't be bothered to replace the complex pins that held up her hair; her loose style obviously pleased Bixbite greatly.

"Thank you. So do you." she responded, slowly scanning Bixbite's tall red form from bottom to top.

"THANKS! I hoped you'd like it! …Sooooo, I thought of somewhere we could go, if you hadn't had any thoughts about it yet."

"I hadn't thought about it yet, where do you have in mind?"

"Ummm, I thought it'd be nice to surprise you… But… d'you really wanna know?"

Peridot groaned inwardly, she really hated surprises (especially when they involved Bixbite, as those tended to be either loud or horrifyingly sentimental): she liked to know in advance how bad things were likely to be. But maybe Bixbite _would_ surprise her; if not, she wasn't planning on this being a regular thing; she could manage one evening every so often…

"No, you can surprise me."

"Yay! Let's go!" Bixbite said excitedly, practically skipping past Peridot and through the open gate.

…

"…reckoned that it was fake: I mean, the only one I know of is offworld, in a vault. But if it _was_ a genuine replicator wand… What do you think? ...Peridot? …Perrrridot? …Peri? Oh my gem! I'm sorry, I've been talking so much; you must be so bored. You can always stop me if you get bored, you know, I won't mind. I know I kinda go on sometimes, but umm… we don't see each other that often anymore. I have to make the most of it." Bixbite said with a shy smile.

Peridot had expected her to talk a lot because she always did, but she had really outdone herself this time. Part of her wished that she'd been paying more attention, because now she found herself asking what one Gem could possibly talk about for two whole hours, pretty much non-stop… But the break in conversation was perfect; it was a good time to sneak in what she was here for.

"It's my fault, I'm always so busy. I've missed you though," Peridot said softly, laying her hands on Bixbite's, "And I'm not bored, I've just been a bit distracted lately."

That intrigued Bixbite, Peridot _never_ got distracted; the serious Gem had resisted even her best attempts to divert her attention to more romantic endeavours. Whatever was behind this was already worthy of note (though not as worthy as the fact that she'd missed her; she would have to find out more about that…).

"What's on your mind, Peri?"

Peridot leaned in closer and whispered:

"I need your help with something, but it's sensitive... _Authority_ sensitive..."

…

Bixbite's gem was tingling. She had always daydreamed about things like this: dashing agent Peridot finds herself in a predicament, and the only person who can help her is Bixbite, her steadfast lover and right-hand Gem; they'd always get the job done in the end, and live to die another day.

But now that it was happening she was a little bit scared, in reality you didn't live to die another day, not when it came to the Authority…

Most of the time people were happy; they were well looked after, and had enough freedom to keep them content and abiding by the law. However, very rarely a person (or persons) would cross the Authority - you never found out how, but you could assume it was very serious, and possibly (probably) a threat to Gemkind - that was where the Department of Clarity came in. Nobody knew _exactly_ what they did, or how they did it, or the scale of its operations; but everyone had their theories, and when things around you changed too rapidly, or something (or someone) just didn't exist anymore, it seemed reasonable to assume that they were involved. That was the world that Peridot had joined, and was now offering Bixbite a way into.

She had a choice: she could either be sensible, and take Peridot's statement no further; or enter into the shadowy, perhaps bottomless world of the clarity department…

But what choice did she really have? It was difficult to get hold of Peridot a lot of the time, and she could be hurtfully gruff, but when she _really_ needed her, Peridot had always managed to be there; now that the roles were reversed, _she_ could finally be there for Peridot in a tangible way. It wasn't a question of _if_ she would help, but _how_ she would help.

And anyway, what kind of Gem would she be if she couldn't face danger for a loved one?

…

"Okay," said Bixbite, ready to engage the analytical part of her mind, "what do you want me to do?"

Peridot slid around the u-shaped booth, coming to sit next to Bixbite. Opening her hand computer and zooming in on the planetary system containing Earth, she said:

"Back while we were seconds, I noticed that _this_ planet didn't fit my model of its system. I managed to have a look in the records at the Icosahedron; the planet has a name, Earth. We've even been there before: there's a Kindergarten there, or there was. That's where the file stops making sense."

From Bixbite's wide eyed expression it was clear that the beginning of the file could stand to make a bit more sense…

"It says that _we_ destroyed this Kindergarten, because a rose quartz was attempting to use it to claim the planet for herself. We destroyed it, and that started a war, and then we destroyed her and her rebels. Resources had been exhausted by the end of the war, so we left. Obviously we've never gone back, and now the spotting **and** main library records have been tampered with." she finished, waiting for Bixbite to reach the same conclusion as she had.

For long minute Bixbite sat with her hand over her mouth, staring at the table in front of them. Peridot watched her in silence until she turned her head to the right, her expression worried.

"So... you don't believe the war ended how it did in the records?"

She had no doubt that every word Peridot had said was true, she was a no-nonsense sort of Gem; she knew that if she were to check herself, everything would be as described. The results of Peridot's search posed some scary questions, and those questions were sure to have equally scary answers…

"No." said Peridot.

"And now, I guess you wanna send a… something to the planet, right?"

"Yes. If there are Gems there..."

Bixbite nodded. She knew how significant the discovery of Gems on an officially unrecognised world would be. Peridot continued.

"The tools the clarity has for identifying gem signatures are much too small for a planet-wide search. That's why I- … What? …Why are you smiling like that?"

…

Things were really beginning to look up for Bixbite: first Peridot had called her, then suggested they go on a date (she'd even let down her hair for the occasion!), _she'd_ asked for _her_ help and now, fate had handed her exactly what she needed to give that help (well, almost exactly... she was sure that what she had in mind would be fit for purpose). She had every reason to smile how she was smiling. She said a silent thank you to the Goddess of the House of Beryl.

…

"Peridot! I have what we need!" she said in the loudest whisper that Peridot had ever heard.

"Excellent. What is it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Wellllllllllllll… I _could_ tell you, but it'd… you wouldn't… no. You have to _see_ them." said Bixbite. The red Gem entered into a fit of giggles at some private joke. "Come on, Peri, I'll show you now! Ooooh, wait! I'll need to get the key from my room first! Let's go!"

There wasn't time for Peridot to ask any questions or make any protests, because Bixbite already sliding out of the booth, chattering excitedly about visibility and sunrise.

…

It was a totally clear night, and the stars above Homeworld shone down in their countless millions. Tiny points of light in yellow, white and orange covered the midnight-blue sky, while the closest stars, the ones of Homeworld's own galaxy, were so close together that they formed a cloud like streak across the sky: a glowing stripe of purples, blues, oranges and greys. It had been a long time since Peridot had seen a sky so beautiful with her own eyes; and she was glad that her task had brought them to this place.

Stepping off the warp pad, she knew immediately why Bixbite had suggest a change of footwear; her combat boots shifted ever so slightly in what could only be sand, and she had to watch her step to avoid the rocks that littered the ground.

"Bixbite, where are we?"

"The Lesser Amorphous Desert!" was the enthusiastic and unnecessarily loud answer. Other than what they said, the desert was completely silent; Peridot felt like they were disturbing the tranquillity of the place.

Glancing around the area made her wonder what Bixbite had planned, because as far as the eye could see in every direction, the land stretched out unchanging (except in front, where a jagged chain of mountains could be made out a great distance away).

A shuffling sound to her left caught Peridot's attention; Bixbite rummaged through the handbag she'd brought from the room, and after a short while produced a hand-sized, pale green tetrahedron that glittered in the starlight. She turned towards Peridot, closed one eye, and held the shape at roughly the height of her head.

"What are you doing?" asked Peridot.

"I never noticed before, but the key looks _just_ like your hair! Not now, obviously… usually, I mean… Oh! And you hair's kind of blonde, not green; but you're green, like the key, _that's_ what I was saying."

She folded her arms. "Seriously?"

"Ehehe-he… Yeah… Sorry, Peri." mumbled Bixbite sheepishly.

Without warning she threw the little pyramid underarm in the direction of the mountains. Peridot watched as it arced through the air and landed in the sand with a quiet thump. As soon as it landed it started to glow a faint green, and slowly but steadily made a short trip a few feet to the right.

"Did you see that!? It was almost perfect! It must be you, bringing me luck!"

"I highly doubt that, Bixbite-"

"Shhhhhh, watch now."

She could just about see the illuminated key balance on one of its edges and start to spin: the sand around it also began to move, caught up in whatever magic was being applied. Like a whirlpool in the sand, a widening spiral crept closer to the pair; Peridot thought about moving backwards, but Bixbite looked calm so she stayed put. Slowly, the key began to descend into the ground, becoming the point of an inverted cone of spiralling sand. The hole that was forming got deeper and deeper, until the key disappeared from view.

"Wasn't that just the best thing?" asked Bixbite.

"It was-"

"It gets better though, come on, we're almost there!"

Bixbite led her to the edge of the hole where inside, Peridot could see stairs winding around the wall. About halfway down, the rock (or was it hard sand? she didn't even know) extended further out from the wall, creating a landing within the underground structure. four tunnels were accessible from the landing: one facing back in the direction of the warp pad, the other towards the mountains, one to the left and one to the right; their depth was such that she couldn't she couldn't see anything down the tunnels, but it didn't matter because none of them was their destination.

When they got to the bottom of the pit, Bixbite picked up the still glowing key and dropped it into her bag. They walked towards a fifth tunnel, another facing in the direction of the mountains; when the panels that made up the floor lit up, Peridot could see that there was a marked curve in the path leading to the right - after a certain distance she couldn't see where it led. After they had followed it for what seemed like forever, they emerged into a large control room. Rows of desks took up most of the space, with computers stationed on them at regular intervals. In front of a huge black screen on the front wall, sat the largest computer in the room, the main console.

"Ugh! This place is _ancient_! Look at these computers… do they even still work?" moaned an appalled Peridot. They were some of the oldest computers that she'd ever seen: ones where you actually had to _touch_ a surface, physically! As in physical contact!

"I don't know about the smaller ones, but the one that matters," Bixbite said, sitting in front of the big computer, "definitely does. I've used it myself!" she said happily. "Get a chair, come sit next to me!"

Peridot did as instructed, looking on as Bixbite initialized the antique machine.

"This place is all mine, I inherited it from Jadeite when they made me a first. Yay! It's like my own personal department; for me!"

"So what's its purpose?" asked Peridot, impatient to learn what it was down here that Bixbite was so sure was going to work.

"You know how they always taught us that some steps of world seeding just can't be automated; certain parts of the process _have_ to have experienced Gems carrying them out? Well at some point - I think during the inclusion, or just before - they actually tried it. The idea was that as soon as gem signatures were detected on that world, a signal would be sent to wherever, and then they would come to decide what to do with the new Gems. The machines that were going to be detecting the life signatures, this is where they were kept. Okay they aren't in _here_ , they're **way** too big for that, but we need to make sure everything is functioning properly first, and then we can launch one! Yay!"

"You could send it today?" Peridot was impressed and relieved at the same time; the sooner they sent the 'thing' the sooner they'd have a result, hopefully a positive one, to present to the Authority if… when they demanded to know what she was doing. She tried to forget about them for the time being.

"Yeah, sure! It isn't a registered unit, so nobody needs it for anything. Well, except us; we need it. And it doesn't have any forms and the like because it's been out of use so long. That wouldn't matter anyway; the Authority would want to know why it's going to 'Earth' in the first place, even if this _was_ official." Bixbite said solemnly. "But anyway, this is for a good cause." she added, trying to stay positive.

"How many are there, or were there?" asked Peridot.

"There are three- well, four… but three originals; but only one of them works. We're- aha, we can start now!"

On the wide screen in front of them an ugly, blocky, but incredibly simple interface displayed four circles on a white background. Three of the circles were larger, and orange, with a red hexagon at the centre; the fourth circle was about a quarter of the size of the others, and coloured Authority green with a gold hexagon at its centre. Bixbite clicked on one of the orange circles. As she typed on the keyboard, running diagnostics on the machine represented by the orange circle, she explained a bit more to Peridot.

"It took me months to look through all the code, but it was so worth it! I've only actually sent it on one trip before, a short trip; but nothing bad happened! And all the physical tests we've done on it so far have been encouraging. There's nothing to indicate that it won't fly exactly like it was made to!" she said confidently. "I think they were originally for terraforming, you know: while I was learning how they worked, I found this whole part of their code dedicated to foreign life forms: there's a database of life we've studied so far, and a program for estimating compatibilities between them, and predicting unseen combinations. I'm trying to generate more interest in that section alone, but the biologists are avoiding me. I don't know why… _Anyway_ , from physically studying them we know that they could make _huge_ vacuums, like people-getting-pulled-off-the-face-of-the-world huge. If you put that with all the non-Gem stuff… it has to be terraforming. It would've made even the conquest part of seeding operations automatic, if they'd had better technology for the rest… Right now I've requested that the department looks into automatisation again."

…

The Red Eyes were something of a departmental joke: nobody who knew about them ever had use for them, and those who accepted them did so because their wild imaginations or current owners made them out to be more than they really were. With better propulsion systems readily available, all offworld colonies accounted for (until now), and a military as 'selective' in its methods as Homeworld's was, there wasn't reason to pay attention to the outmoded machines.

Their handing down was tradition; when new first class spotters were promoted, their departing predecessors would carefully decide which of them was the most gullible, and 'generously offer' the relic to them (armed with bent truths and embellishments). Naturally they had chosen Bixbite as the next unwitting victim in the chain, and found it only logical that she'd accepted. Many guffaws were had.

In the way she was renowned for, Bixbite had seen her acquisition as a positive thing. Her only complaint was that Jadeite had forgotten to tell her that the devices had originally been designed with terraforming in mind (in actual fact Jadeite had no idea what the Red Eyes were for, and had only taken the key to the facility because of its pleasing appearance), which meant that she'd had to work out for herself what that part of the code was meant to do. But worked it out she had, and now it was time to share her fortune with Peridot.

…

The text stopped flickering on the screen as the checks completed on all of the working Red Eye's components. Bixbite clicked through screens until she had reached a map of the galaxies closest to Homeworld's. A box in the sidebar pulsed, awaiting an input.

"Peri… it's ready now," she said gingerly, "All you have to do is set the coordinates.

This was it. Even if no lines had been crossed so far, sending this machine to Earth would open up a new chapter for her, and Bixbite. This was the difference between normality and renown, 'what if' and the truth, continued existence and shattering…

A final thought came to Peridot.

"When will it come back with a result?"

"Well, its engine's really old… I couldn't retrofit a new one without changing everything else. … Maybe, three months; to get there and back? If it finds Gems there."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then it won't return. It's programmed to remain in orbit around the planet if it doesn't find anyone, anyone that's a Gem, I mean. If it finds anything that isn't a Gem it'll just do its job and then go into orbit, but it still won't come back."

"Okay."

With her right hand, Peridot brought up the coordinates for Earth, typing them into the main computer with the left. She confirmed the command.

From the low metallic rumbling and way the room began to vibrate she could tell that something of incredible size and weight was moving somewhere above them. She looked up at ceiling to try and pinpoint the epicentre of the disturbance; Bixbite looked at her and grinned.

"I've been waiting for you to see this all night! …Hold on, you might want some of these."

She rifled through her bag again and handed Peridot a pair of black goggles, beaming all the while.

…

Peridot slowed down when they reached the top of the staircase, having trouble adjusting to the scale of what she was seeing. In front of them, where there had once been an unbroken expanse of desert, there was now a truly colossal hole; to see the entirety of it, she had to turn her head through a quite significant angle. Through her goggles she could see that light of intensifying brightness was being emitted by something inside the immense pit.

Like Homeworld's star did every day to bring in the morning, the curve of a giant, shining sphere slowly began to rise from the hole, creating an artificial sunrise. It was like nothing Peridot had ever seen before: it looked natural, with its segmented, shell-like appearance - appearing both pink and cream in colour as continued its upwards journey; but it was clearly artificial: its movement was too steady, too precise, and those lines were too regular and straight to be anything but Gem made.

"Peridot, this is a Red Eye." said Bixbite in a reverent way.

As though awakened by the sound of its master's voice, the pearlescent plates of the Red Eye receded into each other with a mechanical clanking sound and disappeared from view. With its orange interior exposed, the quiet hum of whatever powered the arcane machine reverberated around the desert, and the artificial daylight that had lit the area a second ago was now replaced by a deep, ominous red.

A red hexagon swung round to the side that the pair were facing, causing Peridot to realise that the six-sided shape she had seen in the machine's diagram was an aperture.

'The Red Eye. How appropriate.' she thought to herself as the opening widened and then contracted, focusing on them.

"Hey sweetie!" Bixbite said loudly and affectionately to the machine. Peridot closed her eyes and sighed. "This is my friend, Peridot, she's the reason we called you!"

Coincidentally (or so Peridot thought, 'it can't really understand her, can it?'), the Red Eye chose that moment to rotate ever so slightly, seeming to look right at her. Seconds later it panned to their right, and Peridot looked to see if it had spotted something else.

Not too far away, fifteen or so figures with long hair had materialized while they had been watching the Red Eye prepare for its journey; cautiously, the little crowd made its way towards where they were standing.

"Ummm …Bixbite, who are they?"

"Wha- oh. Don't mind them, they're desert glass. They come to watch whenever we do testing at night."

Peridot turned back to the desert glass, but they had no interest in her: they were in the process of sitting down, and laughed and talked amongst themselves in a language she didn't recognise. Most unsubtly, Bixbite took a sideways step towards her, and carefully felt around the bottom of her arm, seeking her hand. She found her fingers, but after a minute or two of clumsily fumbling with the unattached digits, she gave up, sighing quietly.

…

Peridot had often wondered if Bixbite had some kind of defect within her gem: how could she still be pursuing her after so long, with so little to show for it? Any other Gem would've concluded that nothing like what she wanted was going to happen.

For a short time she was flattered, then, as time went on she was amused; amusement gave way to boredom as she grew tired of the slightly awkward conversations and bouts of sentiment, questioning whether Bixbite would ever get over her immature infatuation with her. But apparently this ran deeper than mere infatuation, and so Peridot had come to accept that that was how she would always feel. She had decided to treat her just as she would treat anyone else that wasn't a total clod, reasoning that Bixbite was old and sensible enough (mostly) to understand that any emotional upset she suffered was her own fault.

Her plan had worked; Bixbite never mentioned her feelings explicitly, she never complained about a lack of reciprocation and her unannounced visits gradually became fewer.

But apparently real love never died, it only changed form; and like the carefully chosen Gem that had been responsible for looking after Peridot when she first found her way to civilization, Bixbite had always tried her best to help her and show her that she mattered. Even up until now Peridot had tried to keep her at a safe distance (she never could rely too much on others, she'd learned), but as irritating as she could be, and as easily distracted, and poor at taking hints, and loud, and… In spite of everything Peridot just couldn't interact with Bixbite in the same impersonal, analytical way that served her so well with everyone else.

She realised that she hadn't needed to try and entice Bixbite into helping her: the outcome would have been exactly the same if she had just asked her straight away. It made her feel a little bad that she was _still_ trying to put Bixbite in the same class as every other Gem, while she was willing to put herself at great risk to help her. She looked at the group of desert glass: happy, together, relaxed; as much as she hated to admit it, she needed others ( _another_ , at least) a bit more than she liked to admit. She was glad of the support, and the company that Bixbite had always offered.

Peridot put an arm around her waist (her shoulder was awkwardly high).

"Thank you." she said quietly.

"Don't mention it, Peri." Bixbite replied, putting an arm around her shoulder.

…

The Red Eye got smaller and smaller as it moved into position for the long journey from Homeworld, until the few Gems that were watching it saw nothing but a tiny red moon, just for them. It turned from red to a brilliant near-white as it closed its cover, and after a short, linear move forwards it sped off, vanishing in a twinkle of light.

"Bye bye, sweetie! Find us some Gems, okay."

Peridot grinned at the pointlessness of the comment, and the absurdity of what they'd just done.

…

Just as absurd was the idea that both Gems and… 'other' could be on Earth at the same time. The possibility had never crossed either of their minds…


	4. Day of the Diamond

_The eve of the Fifth Triumvirate Era,_

_Shortly before the Ceremony of the Sword,_

_Reflection Room number twenty four._

…

_I have been waiting for this day for the last three thousand-four hundred years. Since I started to walk my chosen path, every step I have taken, every regeneration I have been through, every crack my gem has had to bear; it has all been preparation… for this, the Ceremony of the Sword._

_There are a rare few on the planet possess both the ability and the desire to be in the position that I am in: we are the triumviriti, and every one of us will die today; it is inevitable. We fully accept what awaits us… for without death, there can be no rebirth, and the chance to be reborn as a perfect Diamond, the epitome of our House… is a chance we would take a thousand times over._

_But there can only be one: one Gem in each Shard who stands apart from the others; one who proves beyond any doubt that_ _**they** are_ _the most worthy of a place in the Triumvirate, and so should be permitted to reify their designs._

_For the Yellow Shard,_ _**I** _ _shall be that Gem._

_For as long as I can remember, my Shard has fulfilled its role wisely and skilfully; Homeworld's battles have been carefully sought and decisively won, and our eternal home has remained safe._

_And yet, when I consider how rich our history was: the magnitude of our conquests, the daring and inventiveness of our tactics, the fear we could inspire even among the other diamonds; the shard that emerged from the inclusion era - and those that followed - seem merely satisfactory, adequate… mediocre._

_We had something stolen from us in the Third Inorganic War, something more than just the lives of noble Gems. Our ardour has been severely dampened, and we have gained a paralyzing fear of the same awesome belligerence that once defined us. It is as though the fire that burns within our gems - the same fire that gives them their essential yellow colour - has been extinguished, and without the torch to guide it our entire race has lost its way in the universe._

_We could be more._

_We_ _**deserve** _ _more!_

 _We_ _**shall** _ _be more…_

_They say that I'm just like her: the last Yellow Diamond before the Triumvirate eras; even down to the emerald cut of my gem. They say I share her merciless spirit, her calm demeanour, and the same undying belief in the expansion of Gemkind that she had. 'The Devourer of Worlds' will be a difficult name to live up to, but to be likened to her shows that I am moving in the right direction, and I am more than prepared to honour such a great Gem through my actions. I shall restore my Shard to its former glory, and from there, I shall make the presence of our kind felt across the stars…_

_But am I afraid of what might happen today?_

_Not at all._

_I wasn't ready for this at the third Refacetting, so I chose to wait: a diamond will only fight in the Ceremony of the Sword_ _**once** _ _, so to rise to the challenge with anything less than complete belief in your victory is foolish._

_But this is about more than my personal gain… my victory will truly represent a victory for every person on Homeworld. I have grand plans for us, and it is only by succeeding today that I can be certain they will be carried out._

_How can I know fear, or fail when the world needs me?_

_The answer is simple,_

_I cannot._

_…_

Pavilion's eyes flicked open when she heard the chime of the gate. The tessellated triangular seal of the Authority flashed onto the wide door, which then rushed upwards with a quiet hiss. In the mirror in front of her she could see dark purple Gem standing at the opening: her head was bowed, and some of her copious black hair rested in front of her shoulders, threaded through two long, golden cylinders. She held a sparkling black and yellow object in her hands.

"Yellow Shard aspirant number twenty four, the Triumvirate are ready to receive you now." the Gem said clearly.

She slowly rose from her cross-legged position on the floor and inhaled deeply. After stretching her arms out wide and exhaling, she turned around and strode the short distance across the mirrored cube. Standing in front of the still bowing Gem she said:

"And I am ready to be received."

"Once we enter the arena do not take off your mask or speak to any of the other triumviriti. Do not summon your weapon until instructed to do so, and face the front for the duration of the preliminary speech." said the Gem formally, at last raising her head. "Good luck." she added quietly.

"Okay. And thank you."

The Gem raised her hands and presented Pavilion with a mask to match her ornate bodysuit: full face, left half black, right half yellow; the black half was decorated with small yellow diamonds in lines and curves, the yellow half was covered in triangles of a slightly darker shade of yellow. She placed the mask over her face and it secured itself with a series of mechanical plinks.

The bodysuit was the strangest thing she'd ever worn, arising from the fact that it wasn't part of her. Obviously she must've worn fabrics before she was taught how to regenerate, but she couldn't remember that far back, and nothing that newly inducted Gems ever wore was this exquisitely crafted. It would impair her ability to shapeshift, but that wouldn't be a problem today, and she did like the way it felt against her skin. She could get used to ceremonial attire…

"Please, follow me now." said her handler. She spun round and walked quickly out of the room.

It didn't take Pavilion much effort to keep up with her; though she was a very average height for a diamond, she was tall for a Gem. 'Maybe that's why she's walking so fast.' she mused. They passed through a maze of dimly lit corridors and gates, their steps echoing on the light-brown stone of the passageways under the stadium. After a while she saw that their route widened into a circular chamber with an archway disappearing off to the left. Entering the chamber she discovered that they had come out of one of the three exits on that side of the room, all facing the larger archway that they then headed into.

There were people in the main tunnel: a single, alternating line of purple and yellow Gems. When her chaperone had reached the yellow Gem at the back of the line they stopped, waiting in silence. Very faintly, Pavilion could hear the sound of someone speaking - from the occasion, and the soothing nature of the voice she deduced that Blue Diamond was giving a speech.

Footsteps from behind made her turn to see who was coming. A tall black Gem in a white dress walked briskly towards her, leading an even taller white Gem into the line. The white diamond also wore a mask: a smooth matte white oval, vertically separated by a ridge of white diamonds; Pavilion couldn't see the bottom part of her, but she caught glimpses of a lacy white shirt with no sleeves and an uncomfortable looking collar.

…

_'What a cute little diamond.' Corona said to herself with a chuckle. It wasn't often she got to stare down another Gem at eye level, but the slope of the tunnel that her guide had just led her into made it possible. The yellow diamond in front had turned around as they were approaching, and even now was scrutinising her (obviously she wouldn't be looking at some random jet when there was a white diamond just behind)._

_Yellow diamonds amused her beyond words: they were diamonds, but they didn't act like it, swaggering around like combat and xenocide weren't endeavours that any variety could pursue. They were thugs... thugs of her variety, but thugs all the same._

_And they were so easy to irritate! That was the part she enjoyed most; take this one in front: all she'd have to do was give her a little taunt and she was_ _**sure** _ _to try and start a fight._

_Corona couldn't resist, and if things got too heated… she knew just how to deal with it…_

…

As Pavilion looked on, the diamond raised a hand and slowly twirled her finger in a small circle, motioning for her to face the front. She glared at the condescending Gem from behind her mask for a few moments longer, before turning back in the correct direction.

She went back to trying to hear what Blue Diamond was saying, but the walls around them were too thick. What she _did_ catch, was brief silence when the speech ended and the applause began. The sound almost seemed to be forcing its way into the tunnel, like hearing strong wind from inside a building. She could only wonder what it would be like in the arena…

She didn't have long to wonder, because eventually the crowd's noise died down: somebody said a few short words, there was silence again, and then slow, grating noise of stone sliding against stone was heard. Pavilion smiled as the strip of light leading to the arena grew higher and higher. The first in the line disappeared into the brightness of the outside world.

_And so it begins…_

…

The world exploded into sound and light: the screaming and cheering of thousands of Gems hit her as soon as she stepped into the circular arena, and Homeworld's star sat high in the sky, completely unobstructed by clouds, its rays furiously beating down on the stadium. It was loud, and it was hot; _really_ hot… she could see a heat haze around the stadium, and she was reminded of home.

She smirked, thinking to herself: 'even the Sun Goddess is on my side'. She was in her element; today, the stadium belonged to her.

The stadium was a tall, perfectly circular construction, with rows of seats following its curve right to its inner edge. At the centre was the arena: the expansive green circle on which the most important of Homeworld's internal battles were fought. Emblazoned onto the green surface was the seal of the Authority, and the arena was divided into four segments according to its lengths: the top segment contained a single green triangle, the second contained the white triangle, and the third contained the blue and the yellow; the bottom segment was the space between the bottom of the seal and the edge of the arena.

Amidst the roar of the crowd, the multi-coloured procession made its way through the stone gate in the bottom segment. As they walked through the arena, Pavilion could see the three thrones of the Triumvirate opposite them, at the very edge of the seating area; the rest of the Authority was seated behind them, and behind _them_ the lower tier diamonds were visible as swathes of blue, white and yellow. The rest of the crowd was a free-for-all of colour: Gems of every shade and variety coming together to celebrate their new leaders.

She was doing this for them, all of them.

When the first escort reached the intersection of the three coloured triangles, she led her diamond off to an angle on the left. On reaching the same point on the floor, the following pairings also made adjustments to their courses. Pavilion's escort led her in a straight line from the intersection to the centre of the white triangle and stopped, becoming part of the horizontal line that was forming across the second segment of the arena. In her peripheral vision she saw a figure come to stand to her right: a quick glance confirmed that it was the same white diamond that had twirled her finger at her earlier - she knew because her chaperone Gem had the same body shape and hairstyle.

She had an amazing view of the Triumvirate from her position; without even having to turn her head she could see the three Diamonds watching them as they lined up. She knew it couldn't be so - because she was just one of forty six diamonds in the line, and they were all wearing masks - but she felt like they were watching her specifically, such as her position directly opposite them was.

The last of the pairs must have joined the line, because White Diamond rose from her throne. The act was unnaturally elegant: more like flowing out of the decorative chair than merely getting out of it. As far as Pavilion could see, lace was the theme of the white Shard this Refacetting, because the form-fitting gown that White Diamond wore had the same patterned appearance as the shirt of the diamond next to her. With a speed that surprised and impressed her, the crowd fell totally silent.

White Diamond gave a genteel nod to the Gems lined up in front of her, causing the tetrahedral headdress she wore to sparkle as it caught the light: upon receiving the signal, the escort Gems took a single, uniform step forward, before spinning round to curtsey to their diamond. The diamonds curtsied in reply, and the guides turned to face the Triumvirate once again.

Starting from the two at the ends of their line, the escort Gems began their own procession: two diagonal queues took slow, even steps towards the foot of the wide green staircase that dominated the first segment, meeting in the middle. They ascended the incline in pairs, and for the first time that day Pavilion saw the orange Gems that had accompanied the blue diamonds. As thy climbed the stairs she had to laugh: even adding the number of black and orange Gems together there were _still_ more purple Gems; they had the whole of the left line, and her particular escort was even the last Gem in the right line. But the yellow Shard always had the most aspirants… that was just how it was.

When the first pair reached the top of the stairs they bowed low before White Diamond.

"Empresses, we present to you these, the triumviriti. Their wish is to succeed you today. How will you deal with them?" asked one of the first pair, her voice amplified by some unseen device.

'They won't, my dear. We shall 'deal with' each other.' Pavilion thought to herself. She sighed internally; she was a practical Gem, and it was these parts of the ceremony that she hated: the spectacle was interesting, but there were quite a few parts that just didn't need to be done… like asking questions that everyone already knew the answer to…

"We accept their proposal. We shall lay out for them a trial, to aid us in our selection. Thank you for your offering." White Diamond told the Gem, returning the bow.

The pair took a final step towards White Diamond, crossing the boundary from the arena to the seating area. Their job done, they split up: one to the left, one to the right; they moved around the innermost edge of the stands, now able to take their seats for the coming events. Each subsequent pair made their way to the top of the stairs and bowed, until finally Pavilion saw her guide make the gesture and sit down.

'We are _really_ on our own now…' Pavilion said to herself.

…

White Diamond felt a twinge of sadness: this was probably the last time she would get to address the plebeians, and it was a task she revelled in. But the speech she had prepared would really energise the crowd; it was the kind of speech that they'd want to hear again and again… the kind of speech only a _white_ diamond could give with the required panache.

It was time for one final, memorable act…

…

"My fellow Gems! Today, is a monumental day!

A monumental day not just for the House of Diamond, but for every single one of us; for every individual that can proudly call themself a Gem!

When the First Triumvirate decreed the Refacetting, it was not a step taken lightly: it is not a game that we diamonds play to entertain ourselves, nor is it just a spectacle to entertain you, though I hope will be entertained. No; each Refacetting is like a regeneration, for the fundamentals that make our race great remain unchanged, but the process allows for introspection and fresh ideas. At the end of every iteration a better race is reborn, and now the three of us stand before you: proud to usher in the next turn on our spiral towards perfection!

This day marks the end of our era, which _you_ have generously titled 'The Second Advancement Era'; on behalf of all of us I thank you, for making everything we have achieved possible. It truly is down to you, for alone we can do nothing! The Authority is but the edge of a knife, the tip of a spear, the engine of progress. What good is an edge without the rest of the blade? What good is a sharp point without a handle to wield it with? What good is an engine without fuel? Equally I ask you: what good are we, the Authority, without you, the great and powerful multitude who support us?

There is only one answer, and for you to be here today as witnesses, in the numbers that you are; you must know it too...

In their infinite wisdom, the Goddesses chose not to make all Gems the same; every stone, mineral or non-mineral, faceted or unfaceted, whatever colour or shape, has its own unique combination of properties, both magical and physical. These differences between Gems are part of what make our race so formidable; for together, there is nothing we lack."

She shifted her gaze from the crowd at large to the line of diamonds.

"To all of you aspiring to the rank of triumvir, I say this: as diamonds, one of our greatest gifts is our matchless durability; it allows us to survive challenges that other Gems physically cannot. More subtle, but no less important, is our rarity. Being so few in number makes it especially important for **every** diamond, no matter her station, to use what we have been given for the benefit of all Gemkind. You stand before this crowd today because you have taken these messages into your gems, and understand that it is our duty to serve our race.

Like the way we are formed, your journey here has been both lengthy and intense, but not without good reason. It is an honour to lead a people such as ours, and we must choose the best of our best to hold a position in the Triumvirate. If any of you were unworthy of admission, you would not be where you are; this is not a test of your suitability to lead, but a test to decide _which_ of you will lead.

This is the final chapter in the formation of a Diamond, and those of you that are shattered in the process are no less important than the three that emerge, for you are the essential heat and pressure needed to prepare them for what is to come. All of you are a credit to the House of Diamond, and more importantly to Gemkind. The sacrifices you will make today will not be in vain, nor will they ever be forgotten; you will be immortalized, as those who have come before you have been immortalized. Though there may only be three that remain, I wish you **all** the best of luck."

…

As White Diamond focused on the multitude again, Pavilion was reminded why she was her favourite member of the Triumvirate: she shared her ideal of a strong people in complete harmony with their leaders, and she was far more humble than the majority of her Shard ('as far as humility can go with white diamonds anyway', she laughed to herself).

…

"I will give no hint as to what I think the next era will bring, because it is for the next generation alone to shape. The actions of the three that are chosen today must be guided by their vision of the future, address the needs of the present, and build on the works of the past; discarding those ideas suited only to antiquity. I have every reason to believe that this era will be even more successful than the last, so high is the quality of the triumviriti present today.

Once again, I thank once again every Gem that has contributed to the brilliance of the last thousand years, and at conclude at last, to make way for the next thousand.

Let the Ceremony of the Sword begin!"

With that, White Diamond gave a final curtsey, and the crowd burst into applause at their leader's words. For a good minute or two they clapped and cheered, and the empress simply stood there; basking in the glory and waiting until they inevitably grew restless, so that she could continue. She turned round in either direction to wink at Blue Diamond, and blow a kiss at Yellow Diamond: she would never normally do something like this at such an event, but this really was it; it didn't matter what anybody thought of some last minute one-upmanship.

As she'd expected, the crowd hushed. They were ready to see the main event.

…

"On this occasion the aspirants from the white Shard shall fight first. I therefore invite those of the yellow and blue Shards to take a seat with us." White Diamond said.

In the same way as the guides had, the diamonds that weren't white made the journey up the staircase, bowed to the Triumvirate, and sat down. After the last had taken her seat the railing in front of the Triumvirate snapped into place, and the green staircase folder in on itself with a whispery chattering sound.

When the arena was flat, the twelve white diamonds arranged themselves in wide circle within it; the Authority's seal disappeared beneath their feet, replaced by a white ring on a grey background.

"When the first arrow explodes above you, you will fight until only one of you remains. Make no attempt the leave the arena before the second arrow explodes, signalling the emergence of a victor. For this fight, your Shard does **not** permit the use of shapeshifting, but **does** permit the use of any additional magic you may possess."

A line appeared in the white ring, which began to stretch upwards from that mark, taking the diamonds standing on it with it. A translucent, cylindrical coil wide enough to stand on wound its way out of the arena floor; eventually separating from the arena to float in mid-air. The grey disc of the arena floor made a deep rumbling noise and descended into the blackness below, and out of the blackness rose a different disc: this one consisted of two levels of radial lines, covered in thousands of wedge shaped protrusions.

Pavilion grinned; as usual the white diamonds had to battle in an arena where even the environment was working against them.

A pale white Gem with very short pink hair stood up from her position in the Authority's seating area: she wore a black, sleeved version of the shirts that the white Shard aspirants wore, with a cut-out section in the chest exposing a circular white stone, buttoned with what Pavilion assumed to be diamonds from the way they glittered. Instead of the tight black trousers that the white diamonds were wearing, she was dressed in a white skirt into which the shirt was neatly tucked. In her hands she carried a long, black case which she set down next to White Diamond's throne. She disappeared behind the edge of the stands for a moment and reappeared with a transparent, crystalline bow in her hand.

The Gem nodded to White Diamond.

"Aspirants, you may summon your weapons!"

White Diamond nodded back.

The Gem drew the bow, and let fly an arrow made of light. In the quiet of the stadium, Pavilion could hear it whistle as it sailed high above the white diamonds. At its highest point it exploded with a noise like thunder, scattering white sparks everywhere.

The first battle commenced…


	5. Shattering the Competition

Corona had breathed a sigh with the very first step she took into the arena; the incredible sunshine they were getting meant that there was a distinct lack of moisture in the air, and that made her life just a _little_ bit more difficult.

'Well,' she thought, 'at least the battle might last a little longer. It would be such a pity to be labelled a spoilsport on the first day of my reign.' But as they walked across the arena and she thought through it some more, she decided that it was a useful occurrence. A victory here with minimal use of her power would make the yellow Shard and the House of Topaz happy; she'd noticed that they showed less respect to Diamonds who relied more on special abilities than brute force and weapon skill. But she was more than capable of providing on all three fronts, so if basic combat was what they wanted, then today - _just_ today, because circumstance happened to be in that mood - she could oblige.

So when the empress gave them permission to summon their weapons, instead of having her twin blades materialise on the soles of her shoes as usual, she had them appear parallel to her forearms, secured in place with the special sleeves that she'd conceived specifically for conditions like today's.

She lengthened the blades, grinning behind her mask as she did so; the spectators just didn't know how lucky they were to be seeing her alter her fighting style like this...

The arrow exploded above them, and she turned to address the diamond closest to her.

...

As they were sizing each other up, Corona noticed something move far below them. With rapidly increasing speed, the two discs that now made up the arena floor had begun to spin in opposite directions. Their whirring soon grew louder than the shouting of the crowd, and then drowned them out completely as it escalated into a loud, angry buzzing.

The diamond made a dash at her, apparently thinking she was distracted, but she wasn't. She raised her right arm to block the thrust of the sword, turning to the left as she did so. The sword slid through the thin gap between Corona's blade and the sleeve it was fixed to, and her twisting motion pulled the diamond and her sword towards her in an unintended stumble. As the diamond began to tumble past her she thrust the blade on her left arm towards her, skewering the very surprised Gem through the chest with a pain filled " _HYACK!_ "

The diamond disappeared in a glittering puff, and her clothes crumpled to the floor. 'How irritating,' Corona thought to herself. She was going to have to find the gem of the Gem she'd just proofed and she had to do it quickly, or else her first move would've been as redundant as it was skilful.

Just as she grasped the gem from somewhere inside the shirt, a glimmer in the corner of her eye made her throw herself forward onto the sloped floor. She rolled to the side not a moment too soon, because there was a ' _thunk_ ' as a knife embedded in the ground where she was just lying. She managed to block the third and fourth knives with her own blades, but she knew she wasn't going to be alive for long unless she closed the distance between them.

Quickly thinking about what she had to hand, she spun out of the way of yet another knife, wincing as it slashed across her arm and back. Before the diamond could throw the sixth, Corona hurled the first diamond's gem at her, hitting her hard where her cheek would be if not for her mask. The distraction lasted just long enough for Corona to sprint at her and tackle her to the ground, her newest projectile clattering to the floor. They rolled multiple times to the edge of the spiral, where the knife thrower ended up on top. She scrambled into a sitting position and summoned a new knife: just as she started to lower the blade, aiming for her opponent's chest, Corona seized the opening and swept her arm across the diamonds midriff, cutting her deeply.

Apart from a gasp of pain the diamond never had the chance to react, because Corona put all of her energy into a huge shove, throwing her off of her and over the edge of the spiral. She gave the area a quick scan and, seeing no immediate threats, had a look for the gem she'd thrown; it was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed that it had fallen off the spiral after hitting the second diamond. Peering over the edge, she saw the final moments of the knife thrower: arms flailing, desperately seeking something to hang onto. It was a futile exercise as she was too far away from the spiral, and then came the inevitable pulse of bright light signifying the shattering of her gem.

'Corona two, team inferior; nil.' she said smugly to herself, flopping onto her back for a moment of rest.

…

Pavilion was impressed with the diamond that had started at the top of the spiral: she had managed to dispatch her first opponent inside ten seconds of the starting explosion, and then maybe a minute later, she had sent the second falling to her death. But she was also impressed with another diamond exactly one loop below; this one wielded some kind of spear to a truly lethal degree. She had already shattered three that Pavilion had counted, and was now engaged in a three on one battle with a group that had decided to work together to put an end to her.

Stepping from under the shadow of the loop above she managed to disarm one of the three, and knock the one next to _her_ on her back. She pointed her spear at the floor above, and an ear-splitting crack resounded around the stadium as a jagged line of teal-coloured lightning erupted from the end of it.

…

Corona was just about to get up and pick her next victim when she felt something punch against the ground nearby with explosive force; she rolled onto her front and hopped into a crouch, just in time to witness the completion of a thick line being carved into the floor by some bright light. The next thing she heard was a deafening ' _SNAP_ ' as the section of the spiral that she was standing on gave way and started to fall through the air.

The impact with the floor below was enough to knock her onto her off her feet and onto her front again; slightly dazed, she watched as a diamond with a trident simultaneously engaged two adversaries. She was _fast_ : Corona was slightly surprised by how easy she made fighting multiple opponents look, turning from one to the other to parry and then jab whenever there was the slightest room to. Her movements were a blur, switching between the two of them as though they were moving in slow motion.

Then she realised that the one with the trident was playing with them.

The word was that there was an energy manipulator among their aspirants this Refacetting; one that could take in the energy of physical contact and store it in her gem. Some of the others had spent days devising a strategy for neutralizing her before she became an unmanageable problem, and she'd joined them; then it hit her that she had been gifted with the perfect solution. Now that she was here in front of her, it was time to get close enough to do what only she could do.

…

The one with the trident had shattered one of the three she was fighting by causing a section of the spiral to fall on her.

' _That_ was unexpected.' was all Pavilion could think.

But the trident user obviously hadn't counted on anyone being _on_ the slab that had fallen, because she didn't appear to be aware of the diamond carefully inching her way towards her…

She wondered how this was going to end: the one that had started at the top of the spiral was quick, but the one with the trident seemed to get faster every second she spent fighting (and apparently she could shoot lightning out of her weapon too). She was certain that one of them was going to win; she just couldn't tell which one yet.

…

It couldn't be possible, but the one with the trident was taking her outpacing of the two in front of her to new heights… _and_ her trident was starting to glow. Corona didn't know exactly what that meant, but if it had anything to do with her sudden relocation, then it was something to stop, as soon as possible. She stopped creeping towards the distracted diamond and broke into a run. When she was a short distance away, the one with the trident whipped her head around, pausing in surprise for a moment at seeing Corona sprint towards her; she turned back to the two she was fighting and took a step forward, impaling the one on the left with her trident. Without bothering to deal with the poofed diamond's Gem, her own weapon, or the diamond on the right, she span back around and charged at Corona, taking off with a crackle of electricity.

Anticipating where the diamond would be, Corona slowed down and slashed diagonally, glancing her neck with her right-arm blade. The literal shock she received from the contact made her cry out: it was like being hit with a military grade destabilizer, but without the dispersion of body that came with it. The diamond felt at her neck, and turned around to face Corona. She strode purposefully towards her, and when she was close enough Corona went for another slash, only to have her arm deflected with a hard upwards strike from the diamond. With her other hand, she grabbed Corona's throat; the shock this time a hundred times worse: she felt like her body was on fire.

She remained calm though; after all, physical contact was necessary for the execution of her plan (though she would've preferred to be in the dominant position herself… but she could deal with setbacks). Placing her hands on the arm of the diamond, she began to use her own power.

…

Pavilion was enthralled by what happened next: the shorter diamond had the taller one by the neck, and the taller one was obviously trying to make her let go because she had her hands on her arm. Then after a while the taller one straightened up, and the shorter one looked like she was trying to get away from her; jerking her arm backwards in a panicked fashion. She managed to get free and summon her trident, but she wasn't fast enough to use it: the taller one stepped forward and… hugged her?

…

The burning feeling had intensified when Corona had started trying to freeze the diamond. They both knew what being overwhelmed by the other meant, and the two masked faces stared at each other: one scowling hatefully, the other smirking. But she had held on, steadily dissipating all the energy that her foe was trying to overload her with, and eventually the diamond had no excess energy to attack with. By the time she wrenched herself free it was too late; Corona simply stepped towards her and embraced her: gradually the diamond got colder and colder, until she stopped squirming - becoming a motionless, frozen statue.

With one hand Corona pushed the statue, sending a second Gem off the edge of the spiral to an unceremonious shattering.

'And then there were two.' she said, looking down a couple of loops at her final adversary.

…

Corona looked down at the gem in her hand. It was beautiful: totally colourless, perfectly faceted… flawless, just like hers. It almost made her feel bad about having to shatter it.

Almost.

She gripped the large diamond tighter and allowed the cold to flow out of her, into the gem. As its temperature dropped she could feel the changes in its physical structure, and when it was time she violently clenched her fist. With a discordant ring and a short flash of white light, the gem crumbled into grains and shards.

A boom from above made her look up, 'the explosion… my explosion… I am the new White Diamond… And rightly so; who better for the title than me?'

The buzz of the arena floor subsided and once again she heard the roar of the crowd.

"Di - mond! Di - mond! Di - mond!-" they chanted. She laughed: they didn't know her name yet, but they soon would…

When the arena floor had reverted to its original state and Corona was back on its flat surface, White Diamond stood up.

"White Shard aspirant; you have fulfilled **all** of the conditions that we have set out for you, and we are now able to accept your proposal to join our ranks. Please, step forward."

Corona did. As she crossed the arena, the icon on the floor changed to a white triangle on a green background, and the steps to the seating area folded out of the first segment again.

…

"You may take off your mask." White Diamond told her as Corona kneeled in front of her. With one hand she held her badly scratched mask to her face, and with a finger on the other she gently stroked the clasp that held it in place. With the whir of micromachinery, the mask loosened and she gently pulled it from her face; the empress gazed on the face of her successor for the first time.

Her face had an inverted triangular shape with sharp, well defined edges, and her lips and round nose were thin. All at the same time her face was innocent, serious and full of humour. Between her blue, almond-shaped eyes and deceptively cute and playful expression, White Diamond found her appearance quite captivating.

As pretty as she was, her hair was a dishevelled mess: a tangle of blonde with brown streaks, tied in a bun of questionable stability; she also looked like people with swords had been trying to kill her, such was the shredded state of her clothing.

The diamond smiled at her; it was a smile the people would trust. 'Good.' White Diamond thought, the ability to charm the public was something the white Shard was known for; naturally she had wanted a successor who would follow the trend.

"Diamond, what is your simplified name?" she asked.

"Corona the Flawless, Empress."

"A fine name, Corona; for a fine Gem. May you continue to live up to it." she said, laughing.

"Thank you, Empress."

"I would love to converse with you at length, but my fellow Diamonds also need successors. We will share a few words later, but for now there is business to attend to. There is a seat for you behind us, so get comfortable and enjoy the rest of the ceremony."

"Thank you, Empress." said Corona, sauntering off to find her place.

…

The white Shard liked its traps, the blue Shard embraced the natural creativity of its aspirants, but the yellow Shard only ever opted for a fight in the simplest sense of the word:

"The first explosion signifies the beginning, and the second explosion signifies the end: in between, you will fight to the death. The last Gem standing will join the Triumvirate; no such privilege will be afforded to any Gem who wins through shapeshifting or additional magic, because our Shard does not _allow_ the use of shapeshifting or additional magic." Yellow Diamond said very clearly in her sonorous, moderately accented speech.

Pavilion looked up at her as she spoke, feeling a sense of pride at the way her Shard's representative commanded the crowd's attention, and also at being a yellow diamond herself; standing among the finest of their variety and colour. She smiled when the only change to the arena was the switching of the design on the floor to the outline of a large yellow triangle on a black background. They were to fight on a flat surface with only their weapons to help them.

'Perfect.' she thought. Though she appreciated the artistry and added challenges that the white and blue arenas held, she much preferred how the yellow Shard did things. White Diamond was right, this _was_ a test to see who would lead, and the conditions of their battle made for the simplest selection process possible.

For once, she could focus all her attention on the enemy…

'Well… enemies.' she said too herself with a grin.

"Aspirants! Summon your weapons!" ordered Yellow Diamond.

Pavilion's smile disappeared, replaced by an unseen look of cold determination. From the emerald cut diamond embedded just below the line of her waist, she brought forth her sword: a long, thick, perfectly rectangular blade, maybe two thirds of her height, sharpened the whole length along on every edge except the one that connected it to its long hilt. It was a heavy blade; she'd crafted it to cut through even the most heavily armoured targets.

She didn't bother looking at whoever was going to shoot the arrow, the explosion was going to go off no matter what, and she had twenty three opponents to be mindful of; she adjusted the grip on her sword.

This was it.

The thunderclap of the exploding arrow threw the yellow diamonds into action.

…

The battle was in constant motion, fluidly switching between one-on-one showdowns, impromptu teams and pairings battling each other, to large scale fights involving all the diamonds in the arena. It was a glorious mess; the individual skill of everybody present meant that every diamond had to adapt to whoever they were fighting, and to how they were moving (or being forced to move) relative to the movement of every other Gem in the arena. If that meant leaving one battle to engage in another, that's what they did.

All things considered Corona thought it made for a terribly dull match, and wished for a mirror. What she got instead was a development in the fight, as something went whirling across the arena with a faint yellow trail, hitting no less than three Gems in the process.

…

'This is taking too long…' Pavilion thought. She surveyed the field and decided that something drastic needed to happen, or else the fight was never going to end. That was seconds before she'd twisted her body around and hurled her sword straight through the middle of the arena.

_Diamond number eight had skilfully sidestepped a downwards chop from diamond number fifteen, but in avoiding one danger she had unwittingly stepped into the path of another, and was taken off her feet and poofed by an inexplicable flying object (much to the amusement and relief of number fifteen)._

_Diamond number three was running towards diamonds number sixteen and twenty, having just shattered number eleven. Expecting the expected, she hadn't even thought to check for something like Pavilion's sword, and was shattered instantaneously as it passed through her upper body, ejecting the shards of her gem from the contact in a sparkling spray._

_Diamonds seventeen and six were in a duel when number two stampeded_ _**through** _ _them: seventeen had noticed her at the last second and dived out of the way, but six was not so lucky and was sent flying by a backhand strike from the monstrous Gem. Surprised to still be alive, six had started to get up as the sword left Pavilion's hand, and was in the worst position when it reached her. The flight path of the airborne blade was completely unaffected when it struck her, sending her spinning to the ground with a substantial chunk of her head missing. She withdrew to her gem as she hit the ground._

Pavilion's move didn't have quite the game changing effect that she'd hoped for, but she'd seen a few clouds of smoke and at least one shattering, so it wasn't totally pointless.

Unless you were caught unaware in its path, or failed to get out of the way in time, then there was no way that you would miss the yellow trail that her sword left as it cut through the air. As such, a diamond straight in front of her (who's opponent had mysteriously poofed before her eyes) and another to _her_ left focused their attention on Pavilion, weapons at the ready. With a glow her sword was back in her hands and she took an offensive stance, equally ready to take down the misguided Gems.

'If only they knew.' she thought to herself.

…

" _HYAHH_!" Pavilion yelled; her diagonal cleave had the desired effect, snapping the sword of the diamond who had attempted to block the attack. Her blade went straight through the shoulder and partway through the chest of her screaming opponent before she poofed. Wasting no time, Pavilion raised her sword past her right shoulder and brought it down on the yellow gem that had rolled out of the bodysuit, splitting it cleanly in half with a visible flash.

As soon as she had brought her sword back to a more practical position, another target skidded to a stop just in front of her. The unfortunate diamond clutched her chest, writhing on the ground in obvious agony before falling still: in a ' _poof!_ ' her body was gone, and her irreparably fractured gem disintegrated. Just in time Pavilion realised that to be sliding across the floor like that, the diamond must have been thrown or hit by something very large. Sure enough, stomping towards her with alarming speed was the burliest Gem she had ever laid eyes on.

Never one to run from a challenge, she dissipated her sword and planted her feet, ready to meet her gargantuan attacker. As the diamond made the last few steps, she extended her arm to punch Pavilion in the head with a huge studded glove. When she was too close to change hr mind about the attack, Pavilion summoned her weapon again; with two hands firmly on the handle, she thrust the sword at the diamond as hard as she could.

With all her momentum, the big diamond was never going to be stopped by Pavilion's attack; but that didn't matter, because Pavilion wasn't trying to stop her as such. The diamond hit her with almost as much force as intended, violently smacking her to the ground and creating a person sized dent in the floor.

Her face hurt.

Her eyes hurt.

Her back hurt.

Her head hurt.

The pain washed over her in waves, and she started to wish that she'd thought of a different idea until she heard a bellow somewhere behind her. Now was **not** the time to complain; while she _could_ still fight, she _had_ to fight; as long as she wasn't dead, she had to work until she heard that second explosion. From the blow and her subsequent meeting with the floor, her mask was completely broken, falling away from her face as she stood up. When she turned around, she saw the source of the bellow:

The diamond that had so expertly demonstrated how to punch someone in the face, was in the process of pulling Pavilion's sword out of her chest; roaring angrily when she caught sight of the smaller Gem. Ready to take her revenge, she grasped the blade with her gloved hand and pulled the final length of the weapon out of her body, dropping it to the floor with a metallic ' _clang'_. She began to walk towards her.

Pavilion brought her hands together and her sword reappeared in her grip, just as the diamond broke into a run. Before she managed three steps she stumbled, almost falling over. Seeing her chance to end the battle, Pavilion ran at lumbering Gem with her sword held behind her: with a swift upwards strike she sliced a line all the way up the front of the Gem, making her head snap back when the blade hit her chin.

It was the diamond's turn to land on her back.

As she stood in front of the defeated Gem, Pavilion noticed a twinkling in her hand; realising what Pavilion had seen, the diamond clenched her fist in a final (useless) effort to protect her gem, summoning her studded glove over the top as a barrier.

She could have cut off the diamonds arm or hand and then dealt with the gem, but the well-built diamond had managed to bring out the worst in her. In a rare moment of overwhelming anger, she lifted her sword over her head and slammed the corner down on the balled fist, hard enough to pierce through it, shatter the gem _and_ lodge her blade into the arena floor.

The arrow exploded, partially obscuring her view of the Triumvirate with a shower of yellow sparks.

…

Looking around she saw no Gems: only masks, bodysuits, fragments of yellow diamond, and one _totally_ wrecked arena.

'And so begins my era. There is nothing left to say, there is nothing left to prove. There are just the next thousand years, and what I chose do with them. This is our victory, Gems. Celebrate with me.'

She closed her eyes and listened to the crowd as they cheered:

"Di - mond! Di - mond! Di - mond! Di - mond! Di - mond!"

Then they stopped, and Yellow Diamond spoke.

"Yellow Shard aspirant; we laid out the conditions, and you have fulfilled them. We find your proposal to enter the Triumvirate acceptable, so please, join us here."

…

At the top of the stairs, Yellow Diamond stood waiting for her in all her glory. The black pinstriped suit jacket she wore was well filled out by her sturdy frame, and the matching skirt revealed most of her powerful legs. Her platinum-blonde hair was drawn into a tight ponytail, threaded through a black version of the cylinders that the escort Gems wore in their hair; on top of her head sat a yellow headband, adorned with short spikes and encrusted with yellow diamonds. The thin gold lines that decorated the suit went well with her watchful, deep green eyes, and the high, sharp cheekbones on her oval-shaped face contributed to a grave appearance. But the smile on her thin lips took off some of the intensity.

Pavilion kneeled before her.

"What is your name, Gem? Your short name and chosen title."

"Pavilion the Fearless, Empress."

"Ahhh, _you_ are the Fearless One. Your reputation precedes you: my generals have spoken of your actions on more than one occasion; I am glad to have had the chance to see you for myself. You fought most excellently."

"Thank you, Empress."

"Arise, Pavilion. For the moment we are equals, you need not kneel in my presence."

"Thank you, Empress." she said, getting to her feet.

"The first of your fellows is behind us somewhere, and your seat is near hers. The two of you have a long rule ahead of you, so go now and get acquainted."

"Yes, Empress."

When the Gem had gone to find her seat Yellow Diamond moved to sit on her throne again, smirking triumphantly at White Diamond on the way.

…

She recognised the Gem in the chair immediately: her hair had fallen out of its bun, but it had the same colour, attached to that same lank, distinctive figure. It was finger-twirl…

As Pavilion approached, the Gem removed her legs from the armrest of the adjacent seat, smiling slyly.

"You certainly took your time getting here; I was beginning to think that I would be here by myself _all day_."

"Pleased to meet you too," Pavilion said wearily, sitting on the left of the white diamond. "My name is Pavilion." she extended a hand.

"Cor- Oh! I know you! I recognise your eyes, and… stature." she said, her smile widening. "You're number twenty four; I met you in the tunnel."

"We didn't really _meet_ … but yes, I recognise you as well."

"Of course you do. My title _is_ 'the Recognisable'."

'The Recognisible? What an odd title.' she thought to herself.

"I'm only joking," said the diamond on seeing her puzzled expression, " _I_ , am Corona the Flawless." she shook Pavilion's hand: her fingers were long and thin, like the rest of her; and extremely cold.

'Yes… that made _a lot_ more sense.'

"I knew you were different from the moment you threw your sword across the arena. I think that must've been the highlight of the battle. Oh! No, the highlight was at the end, when the big one tried to flatten you; so comical." said Corona with an airy laugh. "But that way you recovered so from it so rapidly… is getting knocked about like that a regular occurrence for you?"

"No. Oddly enough it only tends to happen at special events."

" _Really_? Now that _is_ interesting." Corona said with mock astonishment. "Rather you than me though: I wouldn't have wanted to fight her. I still would've won of course, but not having the added hassle was fortunate."

"I'm sure it was."

"I'm not surprised that you're here, you're different: any other diamond from your Shard would've tried to fight me in that tunnel."

"Then it seems that you've been fortunate in more ways than one today."

"Indeed it does. Your resilience - especially out of combat - is admirable; I've never met a yellow diamond so equable before."

Corona was beginning to irritate her; she hoped that she'd stop talking soon.

"I only fight when I feel it's necessary. At other times I prefer to close my mouth, and keep my eyes and ears open."

"Very wise. Homeworld is lucky to be receiving a leader like you."

"Thank you." Pavilion said, not returning the compliment.

Corona meant it though; this yellow diamond _was_ different. She decided that she liked Pavilion: she could take her jesting and even give some back, _and_ she was a yellow diamond! She hoped that their blue counterpart had a sense of humour as well, if so then the next thousand years were going to be a lot of fun…

She stopped talking and went back to watching the ceremony, and the people nearby.

'I won't push her too much, not yet. It wouldn't be fair to commence the fun without our third member present.' she mused.

…

Essence was envious and restless, an incredibly unfortunate combination for the nine other blue diamonds taking part in the fourth Refacetting. For what felt like hours she had carefully watched the battles of the other two Shards: the first was more interesting to watch overall, with its magic users and unusual layout, but certain moments of the second were definitely not going to be forgotten anytime soon, and she wished she could've been part of that long, crowded contest. The blue Shard's contribution to the ceremony was going to be the shortest; she would make sure of that…

Whatever reasons the other diamonds had for being in the Ceremony of the Sword was irrelevant: Essence knew that they just weren't in the same class as her. Not that she underestimated them, but there were blue diamonds, and there was _her_. The Department of Clarity had pressed the army to discharge her because of what she had proved she could do, because of what she was willing to do, and because of what she was capable of doing; they had wanted to employ her for their own purposes, and with the help of some 'offers that nobody could refuse' (coercion), they had succeeded. Her ferocity and skills were virtually unmatched; products of her disjointed youth and extended Period of Wandering. The time spent learning from the rich variety of Gems that Homeworld was home to, was time very well spent.

On her journey through life she had unknowingly completed many of the tasks that a blue Shard aspirant was required complete: it was only because there was no other way to move forward (in the direction that she wanted) that she had chosen to complete the rest, and now fight to the death for a position in the Triumvirate. Really, if the Authority had just given her the freedom to pursue information as she pleased, then they wouldn't now be faced with the prospect of her as a leader.

But Homeworld could do with a leader like her. It needed at least one ruler that could do _whatever_ needed to be done - no matter how dark - without a moment's hesitation.

'And if they don't like it,' she thought, 'they can be rid of me in a thousand years.'

A thousand years was more than enough time to alter the course of history…

…

The arena floor had been replaced with an undamaged one, and for the final time the seal of the Authority vanished. The blue Shard aspirants stood in a ring on top of the fourth of six concentric, sand coloured circles on a blue background.

Blue Diamond arose. The noise of the crowd died.

"In a moment an arrow will be fired. It will explode, and that will be your signal to fight. When your trial is at an end, one of you will stand victorious; the victory of that Gem will be declared by the explosion of a second arrow. Do not try to leave the arena before you hear that sound. Lastly, your Shard permits the use of both shapeshifting and any additional magic to aid you in your trial."

Immediately after she had announced the conditions of the match, a slow and menacing ticking reverberated around the stadium:

" _TICK… TICK… TICK… TICK… CLICK!_ " went some unseen mechanism. Corona imagined the stadium as the centre of some enormous clock…

When whatever it was clicked into place the circles started to slide upwards from the floor, starting from the outermost ring. The resulting structure was a wide, circular step pyramid in the middle of the arena. But the stage was still being set, and apertures opened all around the wall of the arena: there was a rumbling and then a rushing sound as water began to spray out of the holes, quickly covering the bottom of the arena and rising steadily up the bottom tier of the pyramid.

'Why couldn't we have had an arena with water in it?' Corona complained silently. Had the arena been like the blue Shard's or the weather not conspired against her, then her outfit would be in much better condition than it currently was…

Just as the water level threatened to wet the feet of the Gems on the fourth tier, the running water came to an abrupt stop and the apertures closed as quickly as they had opened.

Towards the end of the arena's rearrangement a Gem had walked passed where Pavilion and Corona were seated. She carried the long black case that held the ceremonial bow, but it wasn't the same person that Pavilion had seen holding it before the white Shard's battle.

"Corona, do you know who that is?"

"I don't _know_ exactly, but she looks like a pearl, and I heard that each of the three Diamonds has a pearl as personal assistant."

"Thanks." Pavilion replied, never taking her eyes off the Gem.

It would make sense if what Corona had heard was true: the Gem was of the palest white, and had the same lithe build that pearls… that the one pearl she had seen before had. Her gem - an unfaceted white oval - was in the centre of her forehead; it certainly _looked_ like a pearl. She was dressed in a cornflower blue blouse with flat, strappy sandals to match, and very pale pink trousers that ended at the middle of her calves.

When she was closest the pair got a good view of her face: it was oval in shape with wide, pastel blue eyes and a short pointed nose. Her hair was a noticeable shade of dark orange, arranged in a complicated looking spiral updo. Totally unmissable were the dark blue stud earrings that contrasted both her skin and hair. Despite her serious expression she smiled as she passed, politely tilting her head towards Pavilion and Corona before carrying on to Blue Diamond's side.

…

"Aspirants, you may now summon your weapons." called the bluest member of the Triumvirate.

She extended a hand to the might-be-a-pearl, who aimed and fired her weapon.

The boom of the starting arrow shook the arena.

Essence smiled maniacally. _This_ was what she lived for.

…

The second she heard the explosion she jumped, launching herself into the air to take advantage of the high ground that was the pyramid's top tier. She hadn't even finished her ascent when her first victim came into view. The diamond's jump wasn't as high as hers, but she was obviously planning to remain in the air because a large pair of wings was forming on her back; in her hand she carried a bow, and was already pulling her arm back to shoot an arrow. Though she would never know anything about it, the diamond on the third tier had been saved by Essence: also pulling her arm back she aimed and then sent one of her hook swords sailing through the air, hitting the archer in her left wing and making her miss completely.

They both fell back to the ground: Essence rolling forward as she landed, the archer slamming into the ground painfully. She sprang out of her roll and ran towards the crumpled heap that was her opponent; as she reached the archer she swung her right foot forward and kicked her hard in the jaw. Hastily, she patted down the diamond and on finding the gem to the right of her chest, summoned one of her hook swords and drove the shorter end through it.

In the time it had taken her to shatter the archer, someone had climbed to the top of the pyramid and was running towards Essence, who had just stood up. Though Gems favoured a bipedal form, she knew from experience that a quadrupedal body type was also a very useful for some applications, and that it would serve her well right now: she assumed a digitigrade form, fairly low to the ground, with an elongated muzzle with far too many sharp teeth. It was a crude imitation of something she had seen before (probably), but she was going for performance, not physical accuracy. The diamond actually stopped as Essence galloped towards her, petrified as the… thing, raced towards her.

She pounced on the Gem, trapping her underneath her increased bulk. Essence roared for good measure, and then went to the task of tearing the shrieking diamond apart with her teeth. After a well-placed bite to the neck (and head, and upper body… such was the shape of her new mouth) the diamond retreated to her Gem; Essence reformed one of her paws into a hammer, and brought it crashing down on the gem before regaining her default form.

…

"Did you _see_ that thing!" a shocked Corona asked Pavilion.

"I did." was the simple reply.

"That has _got_ to be against the rules… of nature."

"Well their Shard _does_ allow shapeshifting, and that looked like shapeshifting to me."

"Ugh," said the white diamond with a shiver, "well I'm glad I didn't have to fight her. That was just distasteful..."

Distasteful or not it had worked, and Pavilion was intrigued by the shapeshifter. Already she got the feeling that she was the one that would be joining them soon.

…

The clash of swords was music to Essence's ears. The only thing she enjoyed more than shattering people was shattering people who put up a good fight; the diamond she had chosen to engage with was giving her the best fight she'd had for a while.

The diamond's blade glinted in the sunlight with every upwards swipe that she took at Essence, each stroke coming closer to cutting her than the last. She did a series of backflips to create some space between them, but it proved to be pointless because the diamond raced after her, sword readied for a diagonal slash. By the time she landed the diamond was almost upon her; she just had time to summon her swords and block the strike, feeling the enemy weapon stop inches from her face.

Seeing an opportunity to put an end to the relentless assault, she kneed her opponent in the groin and then shoved her backwards with her crossed swords. Before she could recover, Essence elongated her arms and sent the curved ends of both of her hook swords rocketing through the diamond. To add injury to injury she then wrenched the blades out; the cruel hooks tearing even larger holes in her as they made their return journey, drawing forth an anguished scream at the same time.

The Gem made no other noise and fell forward.

She had poofed before she hit the ground.

At the opposite edge of the top tier, two diamonds were busy with their own struggle. Rapidly forming a plan, Essence picked up the gem of her defeated foe and jumped down a tier, smashing it against the floor as she touched the ground. She crept around the edge of the second tier, listening all the while to gauge where to make her surprise attack.

" _OOF!_ " was all the warning she got before someone went flying overhead.

The diamond wasn't out of the match yet though: she summoned a harpoon-like spear in each hand and shot her arms out, lengthening them until the spears embedded themselves into the pyramid near where Essence was standing. She used the point of contact to alter her direction and launched herself towards Essence at full speed, hitting her in the chest with both feet.

Essence sailed through the air and landed with a splash some distance away. The harpoon diamond - wanting to capitalise on her first attack - hurried across the surface of the water, looking for Essence.

'You might be able to walk on water, but that isn't going to help you this time…' Essence thought to herself.

The diamond yelped in surprise as something coiled around her ankle and lifted her off her feet.

…

"She's very resourceful isn't she?" said Corona. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes, amongst other things..." remarked Pavilion.

She was a bit concerned: the blue diamond was remarkably aggressive, very quick to adapt and rarely made a wrong move. If she was like that with everything then Pavilion knew that she would have to be very careful while working with her. Depending on what the blue diamond's motivations were she could become a powerful ally, or a very serious problem. As insufferable as she found Corona, Pavilion didn't get any bad vibes from her; that might prove to be world changing if things got ugly…

Some tentacle like thing whipped the harpoon diamond one way and then snapped the complete opposite direction, releasing its hold and flinging her across the arena. They watched as the diamond bounced off the wall and landed in the water below with a large splash.

"Ouch. She'll be cursing herself for being so hasty." said Corona with a laugh.

The Gem disappeared under the surface and the water foamed vigorously, then they saw the tell-tale flash of a shattered gem, and once again there was calm.

…

Essence swam back to the pyramid and climbed up to the top level, where her final adversary was waiting for her. The diamond summoned her sword and waited for Essence to make her move. She smirked: there wouldn't be another fight between diamonds like this for the next thousand years; it was time to give the people something to remember…

Some diamonds seemed to believe that kindergarten Gems were beneath them, but Essence had never held such a bias; Gems were Gems, and those from the kindergarten had developed some interesting moves that were worth learning. She took a few steps forward and took a small jump: her head went down and the rest of her body began to follow; as she started to roll forwards in mid-air she tucked in her arms and legs, greatly accelerating her spin. By the time she touched ground again she was nothing but a whirling black ball, and she sped towards the diamond for the first of many passes.

The blue diamond barely managed to avoid her the first time, flopping heavily onto her front and then hastening to her feet to see where her foe had gotten to. After turning a wide circle, Essence went for her again, this time even faster: the diamond dodged again with a sidestep, but the strength of Essence's wake was enough to pull her to the floor. The third time the diamond was not so lucky and the ball of Gem hit her hard in the middle, making her roll ungracefully over the surface of the floor. From then on, Essence continued to beat her mercilessly; slamming into her from what seemed like every direction at once.

On her final pass she let the diamond stand up, just so she could take out her legs from behind. The black blur zipped underneath her, knocking her onto her back.

...

 _Blue diamond number seven was in a state of shock: everything had been going to well, and then…_ _**this** _ _. The little Gem had totally overwhelmed her, by rolling across the stage! She hated her, more than anyone she'd ever hated before; she willed herself to stand and make another attempt to fend her off, but she was in so much pain. If she_ _**did** _ _get back up, then the other diamond would just lay her down again, like she had last time._

_Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the decision to get up or not was no longer in her hands. The other diamond roughly grabbed her by the front of her shirt and hauled her to her feet. Her face was little, like the rest of her, a heart shaped affair with wide brown eyes; framed by an expanse of voluminous black hair. She noticed that the Gem's gem was in her forehead, like hers: the only difference was that her own was square in shape, and the other diamond's was like an upside-down teardrop. The Gem smiled at her in a very genial way with her small, plump lips. She was beautiful. She pulled her closer and whispered sensuously into her ear:_

_"You never stood a chance."_

_"You spiteful little-"_

…

Essence tilted her head back and then rammed it forwards, straight into the face of the other diamond. There was a hard ' _clack_ ', followed by a thump as Essence dropped the Gem. The diamond raised a trembling hand to her forehead, but disappeared in a cloud of shimmering smoke before she could touch it.

A pulse of white light met her eyes.

A thunderous explosion met her ears.

Her task was complete.

…

Corona could hear the applause of the audience, but it had a different quality to that which she and Pavilion had received. There was something less…positive, about it. An applause ignited largely by awe and fear; the crowd didn't quite know what to make of the blue diamond, and neither did she.

It took a relatively long time for Blue Diamond to stand up, talking animatedly with White and Yellow Diamond as she was. Corona would have shattered someone to know what they were saying…

…

The bottom two tiers of the pyramid came back into view as the water level slowly dropped. Towards the end, the surface of the water was disturbed by several large whirlpools, and a noisy gurgle was heard as the last of the water disappeared below the arena. The pyramid concertinaed in on itself, returning the arena to its usual state.

"Blue Shard Aspirant; we are pleased to accept your proposal, and now welcome you to the Triumvirate because you have fulfilled all of our conditions. I invite you to join us here, so that we might look upon you."

Essence began to walk forwards, her smile broad beneath her glittering eye mask.

Meeting the other two for the first time was going to be interesting, she thought as the blue triangle appeared on the arena floor. Normally she didn't play well with others, but the Triumvirate was different, she would have to work with them for the next millennium. It was certain that neither of them had ever met a diamond (maybe even a Gem) like her before, and they were going to have to adapt to her; but equally she would also have to adapt to them if they were going to get anything done.

And there was so much _to_ get done…

She had carried out operations on worlds that only the first class spotters knew existed, fought against races with abilities rivalling even Gems, and she had detailed knowledge of the creatures that existed in the nowhere outside of the warp streams. She had seen and done so much in her time and still, there was so much more that she knew was out there to be discovered and exploited. For all that must exist in the universe, she had really only learned as much as the Authority had allow her to learn. That would change today. No longer was she be bound by the rules and secrets of some order, because she had just become one of the heads of that order. Entry to the Triumvirate meant access to _everything_ that Gems knew of, and now that she had that base to work from, she could only increase the already formidable power inside her gem.

When it was required she could be exceptionally beguiling, and given long enough the other Triumvirs would surely come to see things her way. As for the rest of Homeworld: as long as no-one tried to stand in the way of her quest, then they were welcome to share in its rewards…

…

"Wow. She's even shorter than you; I didn't think that was possible." Corona said, eliciting a glare from Pavilion.

With an exaggerated sway of her hips, their blue counterpart made her way to the top of the stairs and kneeled in front of Blue Diamond.

…

"Please, show us your face." requested Blue Diamond in warm yet firm voice. Essence's face glowed for a second as she removed the illusory mask from her illusory body. "Congratulations, Gem; you have taken a most interesting approach to the proceedings, but effective nonetheless. If you would oblige me, I am most curious as to what name one such as you has chosen for herself."

"You honour me with your interest, Empress. My chosen name is Centura, Essence of the Dragon."

…


	6. Gears in Motion

"Hello, Bixbite."

"Peridot, oh my gem I'm so glad you picked up!" said Bixbite in what Peridot thought was a significantly flustered way, even for her. She whispered: "Listen, I can't talk for long. There are two Gems here, pearls, to see me; they're from the House of Diamond. I think they're from the Triumvirate Diamonds themselves: if I'm right then that probably means that there's one on the way to see you. They haven't said what it's about yet, but it'll be the Red Eye launch. I… I just wanted to give you a chance to escape, if they hadn't already got to you yet. And, umm.. I love you, Peridot. I mean, I'm sure you already know, but I just wanted to say it, in case I never get another chance to." she said with a pained smile. "It- what we did… was worth it though."

Before Peridot could give a word in response, Bixbite blew a kiss at the screen and with a ' _blip_ ' she disappeared.

…

_Six hours and forty two minutes earlier._

"…would be a good way to start, but"

With Corona there always seemed to be a 'but', Pavilion thought: her caution was understandable, and in some situations would be a good thing, but there were times when a direct, forceful first move was the best way forward. The planets she had in mind were practically a gift, they needed to be exploited as soon as possible; Corona of all people should understand that an investment like the one she had proposed had incredible potential.

"…but we have a thousand years, surely we can spare a decade or two finishing projects that have already been started? And who knows what we could learn; we may well discover something that makes world seeding as trivial as the lives of organics." she finished.

"Of course, there's no reason that we couldn't do both, is there?" Essence suggested, "After all, those involved with one or the other wouldn't be from the same departments-".

"But you're forgetting about the cost-" Corona interrupted.

"The gains we would make from colonising the worlds I have in mind would more than make up for the money we'd spend starting work there. In a very short time there would be more than enough to finish even the most unviable of the previous projects, on the farthest worlds." Pavilion interrupted _her_ , trying to appeal to Corona's inner financier.

"Empresses, if I may interject."

The three Diamonds turned to look at look at Covellite. They were an intimidating trio - especially Yellow Diamond, with those piercing yellow eyes - but she had been working with Diamonds since before the inclusion era, these three were just the latest in a lengthening line of intimidating leaders. She knew from experience when it was time to speak, and when it was time to withhold her thoughts or information; now was the perfect moment to inform them of something they had been monitoring for about a month.

"Please." said Corona, inviting Covellite to speak with an extension of her hand.

"Two days after the Ceremony of the Sword, one of our geostationary satellites detected the unauthorised launch of an interstellar device. This particular unit is old tech, a Red Eye species identification and basic terraforming unit. From observing its direction and eliminating the systems that it's already passed, it has been predicted that the device is following a course to a planetary system containing the planet Earth."

"The rebellion planet? Why?" asked Pavilion.

"Currently we don't know-".

"More importantly, why were we not told before?" snapped Essence; irritated that even at this stage information was not being given to her as it was generated.

"Forgive me, Empresses. As far as we are aware the problem is one that can be very easily dealt with, but at the same time its solution requires knowledge of the _true_ cause of the inclusion era; knowledge that you did not possess at the time because we did not want to distract you from the traditions of ascension."

"You think that we're so easily distracted that we couldn't learn **and** visit a few regions, or give a few speeches at the same time."

"Not at all, Empress. We merely wanted to give you some time to adjust to your new positions, and get the tedium out of the way before moving onto more exciting matters."

"Thank you, councillor Covellite," Corona said quickly, before Essence could escalate things.

She shot Blue Diamond a meaningful glance; there was no doubt that she was as shrewd as a Gem could be, but her temper would lead to friction between the Triumvirate and its council if it was allowed to get in the way. That would be most unfortunate: a respectable number of the councillors had been part of the Authority since before her gem had formed, and having them on side would make their rule _much_ easier. Essence would understand…

Corona finished:

"But know that in future it is unnecessary to make such allowances on our behalf."

"Of course, Empress." agreed Covellite, glad of White Diamond's interjection.

She liked the new White Diamond; she was the most diplomatic of the three (though that was to be expected, really). She was already beginning to understand the subtleties of how the Triumvirate worked with the council, and that Gems such as her were there to assist, not to hinder. As for the Blue one… it was like they'd accidentally snuck a yellow diamond in with the blue Shard triumviriti. She would be difficult to deal with when she felt like she was being crossed, but Covellite had dealt with worse, and the other two would keep her in line.

Hopefully.

"Back to the matter if you please, councillor." prompted Pavilion.

"Yes. As you know, the seeding of Earth was left unfinished because of a rebellion; but in addition to the regular mineral transmutation, there were a number of secondary projects being carried out. You may enjoy perusing the details of these projects before you continue your discussion, and naturally we have reports on the conversations and movements of the one involved with the launch of the Red Eye." Covellite concluded.

"Why did they send such a device to Earth; what do they gain from sending it there?" Pavilion asked.

"The Red Eye was developed in an attempt to automate the world seeding process: a target world would be identified, the Red Eye sent in to neutralise any existing life forms, injectors and plant equipment deployed, and then the transmutation occurs as normal. It would remain in orbit until the first Gem life signatures were detected, at which point it would return to its point of origin to notify us that the new Gems would be ready for teaching and training very shortly. At this point we are assuming that the one who sent it is looking for Gems on Earth; as I said before, we don't know why."

"' _The one involved with the launch of the Red Eye'_. What information do you have on this individual?" asked Essence bluntly.

" _She_ , is a bixbite, and a first class planetary spotter," Covellite explained. "We know that it's her because the launch site can only be accessed with a special key, and she is the current holder of that key. There isn't really much to say about her: she isn't permitted to summon a weapon, no military training, not even basic; she's been with the spotters for a long time, working her way through the classes. A specialist in interstellar craft design… I can send you a more detailed report if you wish."

"No, that won't be necessary." Essence responded, a little disappointed; she had hoped that the bixbite might be more… dangerous.

"Very well, thank you councillor Covellite." said Pavilion.

"Well then," said Corona, smiling around the room at the assembled Gems, "it seems that we need to have a little chat with our inquisitive friend, doesn't it?"

"Actually, Empress, _friends_ might be a more appropriate word. Within the Icosahedron's archives there are certain books and files that we keep a watchful eye over; the Icosahedron staff are required to send us details of every instance involving these materials. Earlier on the day of the launch, a file involving the planet 'Earth' was accessed by a peridot. _She_ works for the Department of Clarity, Research and Development branch." said councillor Opal.

"On top of that, many of the outgoing calls from the bixbite's phone are to a peridot whose image matches the description of the librarian who submitted the report." added councillor Cerussite.

"Are there any others who may be involved with the incident?" Essence inquired.

"Not that we know of, Empress." Opal replied.

"In that case, please have the relevant documents sent to me, I will have these two apprehen-". Pavilion began.

"Why should you get to have all the… the burden of bringing them in?" Corona asked sweetly.

As a Triumvirate they hadn't much to do in the way of ruling yet, and while apprehending a couple of scientists was something that any one of them could take care of, she didn't want to be left out of any stage of this developing case.

"The Red Eye is able to neutralise targets on a _planetary_ scale, which means that this Gem has sent a planetary grade weapon to an officially declared neutral zone; that makes this a _military_ offence. And, due to the planet's direct link to the Department of Planetary Spotting, I think that this part of the operation is a matter for me to settle." Pavilion said definitively.

Though for all intents and purposes she, Corona and Essence were equals, she was determined that she would be the one that was _actually_ in charge. So even at this early stage it was important to exert her authority whenever possible, like now.

"Your points are valid, but the fact still remains that the peridot works for the Department of Clarity, which - I believe - is _my_ domain." countered Corona.

Essence smiled at their juvenile bickering: though the clarity department was for covert and internal matters concerning Homeworld's security (and thus in the power of white Shard representative), she knew the most about it, having worked there. Whatever they were, her fellow Diamonds weren't foolish, and it was unlikely that they'd leave her and all her expertise out of this interesting affair.

"The situation obviously needs to be kept as quiet as possible, and to that end I suggest that we leave the apprehension of these two to the pearls: they have all the required skills and know most of the details already. And," she chuckled, "it would mean that nobody needs to feel left out."

Corona smiled: mainly because of Essence's remark, but also because for the time being they would be occupied by this curious Red Eye business, and so Pavilion's ideas for yet more world seeding would be put on hold. Yellow Diamond had to be credited with boldness, but at least one of the planets she'd chosen was occupied and _really_ , who wanted a war (of any scale) on their hands so soon after starting their rule? She certainly didn't…

"I think that's the best idea that either of you have had all day." Corona announced drily. "Essence, with your permission I shall send Shell to bring the bixbite in: she doesn't appear to be a threat, and people don't tend to find Shell as intimidating as Étoile or Apex."

Shell smiled smugly.

Étoile gave a derisive snort.

Apex rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

Blue Diamond nodded her assent.

"Marvellous." Corona continued. "And Pavilion with _your_ permission, I shall send Apex to retrieve the clarity technician. If this is something more than a case of misadvised curiosity, then she is best suited to taking care of any resistance the peridot may mount."

"That sounds like a fair assessment; Apex you will do as White Diamond has instructed." said Pavilion to her pearl.

"Yes, mistress." Apex acknowledged.

"Étoile, I leave to you the decision of whom you will accompany on their errand." Corona finished.

After thinking about it for a moment, Étoile said: "I shall go with Shell, mistress."

Apex had a much better sense of humour than Shell, but Shell made better conversation. In the end neither mattered, because Étoile really wasn't in the mood for a fight (if it came to that) nor making small talk with delinquents: Apex was hardly likely to do it if she was there, and she _so_ hated awkward silences.

"Then it's decided. Councillors, please ensure that the information the pearls need is sent to them." Turning to the three pearls, Pavilion said, "pearls, you are to acquire these Gems as quietly as possible, and watch over them in the secure rooms until the general council reconvenes tomorrow. We will hear what they have to say then. I don't need to tell you that this is a sensitive subject: if for any reason you cannot bring them in today, notify us and return, you can try again tomorrow if need be."

"Yes, mistress." the trio replied in unison.

"Unless anyone has anything else to add…" she waited. The council, the pearls, Corona and Essence all remained silent. "then today's meeting is at an end."

…

Peridot thought her options over:

She _could_ take advantage of Bixbite's warning and run, but that would make her look guilty; what good would running do anyway? How far would she get before they caught up with her? And if she did manage to evade the Authority for a reasonable length of time, then when they did find her they would **not** be happy; the punishment would be a lot more severe than if she just went quietly. Besides, an escape without Bixbite didn't sound that appealing.

But really, they weren't guilty of anything: all they'd done is send an identification probe to a planet that nobody had heard of, she could probably make it look like they had overlooked the secret history part…

Two high-grade engineers… sending a specialized and _unauthorised_ identification probe… to a carefully _concealed_ planet… out of scientific curiosity.

'Yeah, because the Authority are _definitely_ going to believe that.' she thought sardonically.

And she'd undeniably taken a look at the archive records; they were never going to ignore that.

No, the best thing to do now was focus on the practical application of what they'd done. While the launch was technically illegal as the Red Eye wasn't a registered unit, the protected information aspect of the situation was what would get them… in trouble, if anything. But if she could bring the Authority's attention back to how the planet was an incredible (and largely untapped) resource, then that _should_ outweigh their status as 'security risks'. By proving that they could be useful to the Authority, they might just get through this in one piece…

'Could, should, might. This disturbing profusion of uncertainty has got to be bad for my gem…' she thought, frowning in frustration.

But she decided that it would work, as long as Bixbite didn't fall to pieces under the stress and say anything unhelpful before she got a chance to save them. A part of her wished that they'd come to get her first, and that she'd been able to tell Bixbite to keep as quiet as possible.

On reflection she realised that if it _had_ happened in that order, Bixbite wouldn't have said that she loved her: even thinking about those words had a greater effect on her that she'd anticipated, in a _very_ good way.

'There's nothing like a worldwide conspiracy to bring two Gems together.' Peridot said to herself with a smile, despite the circumstances.

Just then, a high-pitched electronic droning sounded through her room. A series of lights on the ceiling flicked into action, and a large image formed in the centre of the space, showing her the Gem that was pressing her button on the gate.

…

"Good evening." Peridot said politely, not giving anything away.

"Good evening, Peridot ." the Gem replied.

This must be the pearl that Bixbite thought would be coming. The figure on the projected screen had completely white skin and a white gem; a smooth, pearlescent hemisphere in the centre of her chest. Her wide, midnight-blue eyes were the same shade as her hair, which was much shorter on the sides and the back than it was at the top. Peridot was surprised at how brawny the pearl was; her grey bodysuit exposed her arms, and while they were still quite thin compared to a lot of Gems, they must've been twice as wide as those she'd seen on other pearls. Maybe this one had been purpose grown… Based on her appearance, Peridot concluded that she was Yellow Diamond's pearl.

The Gem waved her hand in front of her, extending and curling her fingers in a sequential, automatic way. Her gem glowed briefly and she held her hand out as if to receive something; from the gem appeared a flat rectangle, which floated into her outstretched hand.

"If you'd be so kind as to let me in, there's something that we need to discuss." said the Gem in an accent she couldn't quite place, holding the rectangle up to the gate.

It was a badge; a badge signifying that its holder was very closely affiliated with the Authority, and a member of House of Diamond. Its main feature was a gold diamond with a small white circle at its centre.

"Wait a second." said Peridot, moving to greet her visitor.

Opening the gate confirmed that the Gem was taller than her, and she had to look up slightly to look her in the eye. She stepped towards Peridot and confidently held out her hand in greeting.

"Apex the Pragmatic, of the Eternal House of Diamond, of the Nacrarium, Series Ten, Arc One, Number Fifteen."

"Peridot." she said automatically, confirming the name that she normally went by. She shook her hand, not failing to notice the firmness of Apex's grip. The pearl already knew her variety and where she lived, so to suggest that she knew her full name as well wasn't a wild conclusion to jump to.

"This won't take long, but let's take a seat anyway." said Apex, gesturing towards Peridot's chairs.

"You do know that this is _my_ room?" asked Peridot, irritated by the stranger's tone.

"I was aware, thank you. Now, does your question lead somewhere pertinent to our meeting? Because if not, take a seat." she said in a firm and icy manner.

Peridot glared at the pearl for a while longer before giving her equally frosty response:

"After you."

She was **not** happy about being told what to do in her own space by this _pearl_ , but Apex was with the Authority, and engaging in some contest of dominance with her would not further her cause (the cause where she planned to stay alive).

When they were both seated, Apex said:

"You may or may not know this, but I am Yellow Diamond's personal assistant, among other things. With her permission, White Diamond has sent me here to retrieve you. Tell me, Peridot, what is the reason that the Triumvirate has demanded your presence?"

"If you're Yellow Diamond's personal assistant then I assume you already know the answer to that, and if you're here to 'retrieve' me on their behalf then you're going to do it anyway. The only real question is why you bothered asking me that in the first place."

The faint smile that Apex had worn slowly faded and she slapped Peridot hard across the cheek for her answer.

"I don't think you understand the situation properly, so let me make things clear to you. _You_ are the one that's committed the offence, and _I_ am the one representing the Triumvirate: when I speak, you listen; when I ask you a question, you give me the answer that I'm looking for; and when I tell you to do something, you cooperate. If you think that there's some hierarchy in effect here then you're right, but know that you're at the bottom of it, even though I'm a pearl. I bothered asking you the question because I was interested in your response, and I thought that talking about the reason for my visit would make you feel at ease. Obviously you're not that kind of Gem."

"And what kind of Gem _am_ I?" Peridot asked contemptuously, still holding her cheek.

"A very lucky one," Apex said enigmatically, "I'm in a good mood, so I'm going to give you some advice: the Triumvirate will probably find your spirit entertaining, if not endearing; just try not to take it too far."

"Noted." said Peridot angrily.

"Good. Now for the next few hours the other pearls and I are going to be watching over you; bear in mind that your body doesn't have to be intact for you to get where we're going, if you try my patience I will destabilise you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I'm glad we're on the same screen now. Let's go." said the pearl, rising from her seat.

…

Peridot saw one advantage to the secure room: being there meant that she wasn't being imprisoned in an object, and that meant that she'd be leaving soon. Relatively soon… Whenever soon was…

On the way to the Authority's headquarters Apex had told her that the pearls of White and Blue Diamond had been sent to collect Bixbite, and that they should all arrive at roughly the same time. That was at least an hour and a half ago, though there was no clock on the shiny black walls of the room to verify her estimation. She hadn't said anything, but Peridot could tell that Apex was surprised that the others hadn't appeared yet.

But their time together had raised Peridot's opinion of the pearl: they were similar in their practical nature, and focused on the efficient completion of tasks. Though she still found her rather contemptible, and wouldn't soon forget the slap that she'd given her, Apex wasn't a clod. Their short and turbulent relationship had developed to the point where they could stand to play a game with each other; projected from her gem, the pearl created a holographic board, covered with holographic pieces, which the pair took turns in moving across the chequered space in an attempt to outsmart the other.

Peridot was winning ('as expected' she thought) five games to three, and was in the process of adding a sixth when a vertical slit appeared in the opposite wall. The two halves snapped away from each other, and into the room flounced a very well dressed, pink haired individual with her gem also in her chest.

From what Apex had told her, this was Étoile, White Diamond's pearl.

"Uhhhhhhhh!" the Gem groaned theatrically, "I thought I was saving myself some work by going with her. _That_ was a mistake! Next time I'm going with you." she said, perching on the table near Apex.

Definitely White Diamond's pearl…

"How did you get here?" she suddenly asked Peridot.

"…We walked, and took warp pads-" she answered warily.

Étoile cursed quietly under her breath. Apex looked very pleased.

"You seem to have a way with people, peridot; hopefully you have enough charm left for the Authority." she remarked in a matter-of-fact way. Turning back to Apex she said: "literally that's all I've heard _all_ night. 'Peridot this and Peridot that.' Honestly, you'd think she was perfect from listening to the bixbite."

Her attention was brought back to the wall again as the split reappeared, and two new people stepped into the rapidly crowding room: Bixbite's long, red form on the left; and a shorter, whiter Gem with dark-orange hair on the right. Just as Apex had described, this pearl's gem was in her forehead, and so by process of elimination this was Shell.

When she saw Bixbite, Peridot's mouth stopped obeying her, and a smile she couldn't get rid of took over the bottom half of her face.

"Apex, sorry we're late, but after meeting Bixbite I felt compelled to hear her version of the story. And y-" Shell started.

"They can't both be in the same room like this, Shell. They're not supposed to have any contact with each other until they've each stood before the Authority." Apex reminded her.

"It'll be alright, if you'd been with us then you'd know that they aren't at all likely to try and change their stories."

"How do you know that, you've not even spoken to the peridot?"

"I don't need to." said Shell with an air of finality. She smiled at Bixbite, who blushed, and then went over and whispered something in Apex's ear. The big pearl sighed.

"Fine. But if something happens then it's on you…"

"Yes, yes, alright." she dismissed Apex. "Anyway Peridot, if you hadn't already guessed, my name's Shell. Bixbite has told us so much about you; it's a pleasure to finally meet you, even under the circumstances."

…


	7. Love, Fear, Adversity and Authority

…

"Yes, likewise…" Peridot said in reply, not knowing what else to add to their little introduction.

She was glad that Shell and not Apex had been sent with Étoile to get Bixbite: Shell was obviously the most pleasant of the three, and Bixbite looked a lot less distressed than she had imagined she would be (no doubt because of the orange-haired pearl).

"Normally detainees - as Apex mentioned - aren't allowed to interact with each other in any way before they appear before the Authority, but this is a very special case: normally _we_ aren't tasked with obtaining the persons of interest. And yet here we all are… So, as we're in charge for the moment and I see no reason why not, an exception will be made for the two of you. Peridot, you sound like a sensible Gem, and I trust that you won't do anything that will make the situation worse." said Shell in a friendly yet stern way. "Please don't let me down."

"We- I won't."

"Great. Then we'll give you two some space, but clearly we'll need to keep an ear open, so don't whisper. Apex, Étoile, shall we?"

Étoile hopped lazily off the table and walked straight to the exit wall, seemingly glad of any reason to leave the room. Apex stood up and smirked at Peridot, before turning around and strolling out with Shell.

The moment the vertical slit in the wall had disappeared, Peridot rose from her chair and moved towards Bixbite, who was hurrying around the edge of the table. When the two were close enough Peridot opened her arms, and Bixbite crashed into her; accepting the invitation with such intensity that they almost fell over.

"Peri…" Bixbite said softly to Peridot, revelling in the feeling of being in her arms once again. She placed one hand on the green Gem's back, and the other on her head, gently pressing her closer.

"I've- I was so worried about- I MEAN, I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!" she continued.

"Bixbite, when she said 'don't whisper' I _don't_ think she meant that that you had to shout either…" Peridot volunteered.

"Oh… SORRY! Sorry, _sorry_." Bixbite eventually whispered.

From her position nestled against Bixbite's chest, Peridot sighed; from anyone else it'd be _really_ annoying, but somehow she could tolerate it when it came from her… She couldn't understand the thoughts and feelings that seemed to be reserved for Bixbite alone; a part of her hoped that the changes weren't permanent (she quite favoured her rational, objective way of thinking), but a different, less frequently seen part of her loved what was happening, and doubted that she'd _really_ be happy if she went back to the way she was before.

Bixbite released her and raised a hand to Peridot's face, lightly running her fingers over the luminous green gem that gave her beloved her name.

"Your gem feels good… fine, I mean! As in, it's undamaged!" she said, with a subtle blush that Peridot had gotten to recognise coming to her cheeks. "But… are you _okay_?"

"Yes, I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Peridot said with a smile. "Are _you_ okay?"

Bixbite was better at this kind of thing than Peridot, and she could tell that her friend wasn't feeling as calm as she looked.

"Really, Peri? …I umm- I know you don't generally like to show people how you feel… well, except when someone makes you _really_ mad, and then… but… anyway- I meant what I said on the phone: I do love you, with my entire gem. I _have_ to worry about you..." she sighed, putting her hands on Peridot's shoulders. "Peridot, I just want you to know that if you're scared… however you feel; you don't have to hide it from me."

Peridot looked into Bixbite's face: she was smiling, but there was genuine concern in her expression; a sadness that Peridot knew was because of her, because Bixbite desperately wanted to make her to feel alright, even with what could happen to them later.

'Those eyes…' Peridot said to herself.

Being so close, she was drawn to them, noticing for the first time how the scarlet of Bixbite's irises blended into a thin, vivid pink ring around her pupils: all part of her striking appearance, an appearance which perfectly matched her striking personality.

'…and that smile.'

It was hardly time to be thinking about Bixbite's lips; she should've been thinking about ways to make her story sound as favourable as possible, or strategies to plead or bargain with the Diamonds. But all she could think of was Bixbite, and the times they'd had together recently, and how effortlessly pleasant she'd always been; but most of all how lucky she was to be loved by someone like her.

In that second there was only one thing to do, and everything else became a secondary concern.

Her head darted forward and she kissed her hard, forcing Bixbite's mouth open with her own. Her tongue moved like it was possessed, and gave itself a thorough and energetic tour of Bixbite's mouth; the red Gem's own tongue was swept up in the frenzied movement of its partner.

Peridot kissed her with the desperate, almost violent intensity of a person who was doing it for the first and possibly the last time, all in one moment. After a while she stopped holding on so tightly; Bixbite also loosened her grip on Peridot's shoulders, but still held onto them like she needed support.

"Oh my gem… Wow." Bixbite looked down at Peridot in wide-eyed astonishment, more than surprised at what had just happened. For a horrible second Peridot wondered if she'd gone too far and upset Bixbite, but then her dark-red blush ascended to new heights: clearly visible to anyone with eyes.

"Peri… That! Was! AMAZING!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Is it… always like that?" she added shyly, a hand darting up to play with the ends of her hair.

For all the times she'd been propositioned, Peridot had never kissed anyone either; no time ever seemed like the right time, and most potential romances didn't go very far because they interfered with her work.

"I don't know. I'll have to conduct some more experiments before I can give you an accurate answer." Peridot explained in her most seductive voice.

"Oh… okay, yeah. That's… sensible." Bixbite said dejectedly.

The way her face fell was one of the saddest sights that Peridot had ever seen, and yet, she still burst out laughing: the scale of her friend's disappointment was matched only by the scale of her misunderstanding…

"You know I meant with you, right? 'Experiments'… with _you_?" she said when she'd got her laughter under control.

"Ohhhhhhhhh!" Bixbite said, also laughing when she finally got the message. She had looked like she was about to cry, and after Peridot's clarification that's exactly what she did.

"I'm sorry, I just… it's all- there's just so much on my mind. * _sniff_ * I don't know what's going to happen to us, Peridot… Shell sounded pretty sure that we'd be fine, and I _really_ want to believe her… but now… now I can't stop thinking about it. I'm terrified, Peri- I mean, I'd do it all again, but I don't want this to be the end of _us_."

Peridot led her to the edge of the table, where they both sat down. After she'd taken the time to wipe Bixbite's tears away, she placed an arm around her and drew her close:

"Bixbite," she said, "I'm terrified as well…"

…

_A few hours later…_

As of maybe forty five minutes ago (though it could quite easily have been a couple of hours; the stress had wrought havoc on her internal clock), the condition of Peridot's day had deteriorated further. The pearls had come back into the secure room and, after allowing her and Bixbite to share a brief goodbye, led her off to finally see the Authority. Just like that, Peridot had been left alone.

She had wanted more time, just another minute - or ten - to be near Bixbite, despite having spent the last few hours with her. Love was doing the strangest things to her way of thinking, if she _was_ in love.

It was highly probable that she was in love…

Then, a few minutes ago, the tell-tale line had appeared in the wall again signalling that somebody was about to enter. First a wave of excitement had washed over her, and then one of panic: she had desperately hoped that they'd bring Bixbite back to the room before taking her to the Authority, but only Étoile entered the room. When she asked the pearl if they'd shattered Bixbite, all she said was:

'Your little friend is still alive. For now… But they're finished with her for the moment, and they want to speak to you. So follow me, and don't even _think_ about trying anything; you won't get far." in what Peridot thought was a needlessly threatening way.

She followed Étoile through a triangular corridor. Apart from the click of the pearl's high heeled shoes, and the quiet, regular thumping of her own boots on the ground there was silence. Even though Étoile wasn't saying a word Peridot was _really_ glad of her company: like the inverted pyramid that contained it, and the thought of the Gems that had had her brought there, the corridor was incredibly unsettling. Animated by the flickering flames of the torches that lined the way, their shadows dance eerily across the floor and the walls, and both in front and behind them there was only darkness in the distance.

She made sure to keep up with Étoile; it was totally irrational, but the thought that she might disappear was one that Peridot couldn't get rid of, and without her… it was easy to imagine the tunnel being lined with traps, or that the floor could disappear beneath her feet. She didn't fancy the thought of walking through it alone.

The notion of actually arriving at their destination didn't thrill her either: the dread of meeting the Authority was killing her, and without Bixbite, in the shadowy passageway, with the repetitiveness of the pattern on the purple-brown stone, she was beginning to feel trapped.

'Great, now I get to add claustrophobia to my list of positive experiences for today, can this get any better?' she thought sourly.

As though someone was listening to her thoughts she received a reply, in kind.

It was kind of expected that the Authority's palace - being the magical construct that it was - would be a lot larger on the inside than it was on the outside, but even with that knowledge the length of the corridor had begun to feel ridiculous to Peridot. Just as she started to question the practicality of such a thing in a place of work, she noticed a change in the scenery ahead.

In the distance was a green triangle that stopped her seeing any further down the corridor; it was extremely unlikely that Étoile would have taken her to a dead end, so she assumed that it was a door, and therefore that they'd reached the place where the meeting… interrogation… sentencing… was to be held.

As they got closer she could see something twinkling on the door, the shine becoming more and more pronounced until they were in front of it.

Diamonds.

At least, she _assumed_ that they were diamonds: hundreds of the tiny glittering jewels decorating a mural of what was obviously a fusion Gem.

It sat cross-legged, surrounded by a crowd of bowing figures many times smaller than itself; the six arms it possessed were outstretched, and in three of its hands it held a mace, a long sword, and what looked like a spear… or staff. To complement its six arms it had six eyes, two clusters of three gems (yellow white and blue, she observed) positioned where one would usually find a pair of eyes. On its chest was a large, inverted triangle where all but six of the diamonds had been set: green in colour, like a lot of things associated with the Authority…

Initially it seemed odd that such an obvious representation of a fusion was depicted in the Adamantine Palace of all places, but when she considered it a little more it made sense: the army and the tiered diamonds both had different rules to everyone else regarding fusion, and so the Triumvirate and the council almost certainly did as well.

Though the artwork demanded her attention, it was not what they were there for. With a short, sharp ' ** _slam_** ', the door shot upwards, revealing a flight of stairs that Étoile proceeded to climb. Peridot jumped as the door slammed back down behind them, and she tried to recompose herself as they came to the room at the top of the stairs.

…

Immediately she spotted the three Diamonds; seated at one end of a grand circular table in the middle of the room. At the opposite end of the table was a single chair. _Her_ chair…

All three of them watched her without speaking as she and Étoile crossed the space. She was unsettled before, but that was **nothing** compared to how she felt now: she could feel their power, it was like a physical force; a force which compelled her to keep looking at them, as desperately as she wanted to turn away.

The outer part of the floor was a stony light grey, but the inner circle glowed a very faint pale-blue, illuminating the space from below. The light had the effect of changing their colours slightly, but she still knew who was who from what she had seen and heard about them:

Most noticable was Yellow Diamond; it was her eyes… In every conversation Peridot had heard about her, her eyes had featured at least once. Unlike everyone else, she had the chance to witness their glowing intensity first hand: she didn't expect that the others would find them so appealing if they were being studied by them as she was. Though Yellow Diamond didn't look pleased to see her she didn't look hostile either; a positive occurrence however small.

'She's got a great haircut though…' Peridot mused. Credit had to be given where it was due, after all.

Then there was Blue Diamond, the _really_ vicious one. Of the three, she was the one that Peridot liked the sound of the least (by far): from the way people who had been at the Ceremony of the Sword had described her, she sounded every bit the clarity operative that she used to be; ruthless, efficient and very skilled. Peridot wondered if Blue Diamond had ever used any equipment designed by her, and then wondered if it would even be _possible_ to convince her not to shatter her, if that was what she had in mind…

Finally there was White Diamond, the tallest and most imposing one. She watched Peridot with an expression halfway between curiosity and amusement. Out of all their looks, Peridot hated hers the most because it was the one she understood the least… She loathed uncertainty, and White Diamond was filling her with it.

Condescension… that was written on her face too. She could tell that White Diamond had very little respect for her. That could be a problem: she would have to appease her white Shard sensibilities if were to stand any chance of staying alive.

…

They got a certain distance from the table when Étoile stopped. Peridot stood to her left and slightly behind, not knowing where the best place to put herself was.

"Empresses, I have brought you the technician, as requested." the pearl said in an explanatory way.

"Thank you, Étoile. You may take a seat with the council; if we need you again we shall call you."

Peridot hadn't had time to consider where the council were, but deduced that they must be watching from behind the reflective wall somehow. That made things a little less disconcerting.

Just a little.

Étoile nodded and walked briskly towards the end of the room behind the Triumvirate. An opening appeared in the wall, and then she was gone.

Yellow Diamond spoke:

"Peridot, please sit down."

It was a calm voice; an order from someone who expected nothing less than immediate and absolute compliance.

A similar calmness came to Peridot's mind, and suddenly all thoughts of shattering left her. For her sake and Bixbite's, she had to prove that her mind was as sharp as any of their swords.

It was time to engage the Fifth Triumvirate.

…


	8. Dynamics and Control

...

Peridot took a seat in the chair and placed her elbows on the table, intertwined her fingers and awaited the Diamonds' next words.

"I won't waste our time or yours by asking if you know why you're here. We know the core facts of what you've done, but some of the specifics - and more importantly your motivations - remain a mystery to us." said Yellow Diamond in a low and clear voice.

Her way of speaking was enough to make Peridot shiver: it was at once authoritative, explanatory and probing; accusatory, but also friendly in a strange kind of way. She didn't like it, it put her on edge.

"For the moment you're being detained mainly as an associate of Bixbite's: her unauthorised launch of a class one terraforming unit is the most tangible of your combined offences… but it isn't the most serious, is it?" she continued, looking straight into Peridot's eyes.

Remembering how Étoile had addressed the Diamonds, Peridot answered:

"…No, Empress."

She knew that Yellow Diamond was assessing her… testing her; she had to stay cool and give them what they asked for, nothing more, until she had the opportunity to properly explain what they'd done and why they'd done it.

"Quite right. It's the reasoning _behind_ the launch, and the eventual destination of the Red Eye that concern us most, and they concern us because neither you nor Bixbite can be considered stupid, not by any stretch of the imagination. They say that 'knowledge is power', Peridot, but I find that rather simplistic: I'd suggest that the two can only be equated when the _right_ person has knowledge of the _right_ things; or perhaps, when the _wrong_ person, or people, have knowledge of the right things…

Your actions point towards a scenario in which you and Bixbite possess more knowledge than is… advisable, for you to possess… So, what's going to happen now is that you're going to tell us about planet Earth, in your own words: where and when you found out about it, _what_ you found out about it, about your visit to the archives, the Red Eye you sent there… ** _everything_**."

When Yellow Diamond had finished speaking, Blue Diamond entered the conversation from a slightly different direction.

"Your 'friend', Bixbite… she's a _lovely_ Gem isn't she? A true rarity, even among her variety… When we requested the same thing of her, she was _very_ helpful… I urge you to be just as helpful." she said in a quiet, threatening way.

Loudly and clearly, Peridot received what was surely a subtle threat. She had expected them to use her feelings for Bixbite against her, but expectation of it didn't do much to dispel the feeling of alarm it inspired, or change the fact that Blue Diamond had just added a new layer of complexity to the situation.

"Now your story, please." the smallest Diamond said, with what Peridot thought was the faintest hint of a smile.

…

It was sensible to assume that Bixbite had told the Diamonds the complete truth (as she understood it): whether they'd tried to scare her into doing so, presented her with the illusion of friendliness to achieve the same outcome, or realised that neither approach was really necessary and simply listened to her. Whatever the case was, contradicting stories would be the **worst** thing for the both of them right now; beyond that however, there was a little room to play up the 'scientific curiosity' side of things…

She explained all she knew of Earth, just as Yellow Diamond had told her she would: she described to the Diamonds how her painstaking attention to detail made her suspect an alteration of the records, how she harassed Danburite to pursue the matter, about her exhaustive search of the Icosahedron's main section, and her tactical use of her position to get what she needed.

She told them exactly what she imagined they would already know. They'd have access to the public and archive versions of Earth's file; the Authority's original seal, the First Devourer's authorization of the planet's exploitation, the kindergarten, the war and Rose Quartz were all now knowledge common to the four of them. Everything that Peridot had learned, the Diamonds patiently listened to; and when it came to the part about Merlinite and the idea to use Bixbite's position to her advantage, they listened carefully to that as well.

She made sure to answer not only the question of 'what happened?', but also the 'why did it happen?' in as much detail as she could: the more she could tell them now, the more room there was to put a positive spin on that which was prepared for. They'd probably still have some tricky questions for her at the end, but hopefully her plan would keep those to a minimum.

The story ended with the trip to the desert, the outdated command centre and the launching of the Red Eye. She didn't fail to mention that it was headed for Earth, or even that they'd been seen by the desert glass.

Finally, the Diamonds knew what she'd been hoping she'd never have to tell them (but secretly _knew_ that she would, eventually), and she felt much better for it; like a great burden had been lifted from her.

After Peridot had listed everything she knew about planet Earth and her actions concerning it, White Diamond chuckled quietly for a few seconds.

…

The other two had both probably thought about it - how devious it was of Peridot to drag her friend into her scheme like that - but Corona knew that she would be the one that commented on it. She saw it like this: yes, they were the Triumvirate, but what good was that if you couldn't have any fun? There was enough information in the reports and in what Bixbite had already told them, for her to recognise that this peculiar little couple were not in fact revolutionaries or what have you; they were merely scientists, doing what scientists did (though admittedly they were going about it in a rather unwise manner). As such, the mood could stand to be a little lighter.

Anyway, these meetings were as much personality tests as they were interrogations: they would decide whether the two Gems were to be shattered or not, and the Triumvirate's decision had to be a wise one; they had to know more about the pair than just what they'd found out before they could decide if they were more useful dead or alive. Really she was just going to tease the peridot a little: what better way was there to see what she was made of, than by subjecting her to some mild stress?

A bit of torment never cracked anyone's gem…

…

"Well, well, well. You _have_ been busy." the white Gem said patronisingly. "You're not a very good friend though, are you: bringing _poor_ Bixbite into this, knowing full well that she'd follow you, even with the likely outcome of your actions?"

"With all due respect, Empress, I don't control Bixbite's actions; she could've refused to help me if she wanted." Peridot replied with an internal wince.

She said the Triumvir's title with a bitterness that even she was surprised by; White Diamond probably wouldn't like that… at all.

'I'm such an imbecile.' she said to herself with an inward groan.

What she'd said about Bixbite sounded quite harsh, but it _was_ true: she was perfectly capable of making her own decisions; she hadn't _forced_ her to do anything… But also, if she hadn't asked for her help then their relationship wouldn't have grown into what it was, surely that was something…

Justifications.

She was justifying herself; she knew that in a way White Diamond was correct, and that annoyed her immensely. A trivial challenge had been laid down and she'd snapped, rising to it like any other clod - potentially bringing herself into conflict with one of the people that it was most important to get on the good side of.

The stupidity of it was simply staggering…

So when White Diamond smiled at her she was more than a little surprised:

"Very true, Peridot. Though I must say, I'm quite glad not to have a partner like you." the Diamond finished airily. She watched Peridot intently, pulling a face that almost begged for retaliation.

Peridot was getting madder by the second, her desire to verbally assault White Diamond reaching dangerous levels. It welled up inside her like never before: the Diamond knew practically nothing about her or Bixbite as people, nothing about their relationship, or how infuriating it was to have information withheld from her when it affected her ability to do her job… sort of.

She just couldn't let the insult go:

"The feeling's mutual." she retorted, instantly regretting it.

'What is wrong with me!?' she asked herself in exasperation. If by some stroke of luck she was still alive after this, she would _really_ need to get her bad temper in order…

…

A grin flickered across Pavilion's face; Corona tended to have that effect on people when she wasn't trying to win them over, and Peridot's comment was as amusing as it was understandable.

Quickly, her visage regained its seriousness: this was **not** the time for banter, or for any of Corona's games; they weren't here to analyse the Gem's love life (though she was glad that Corona had also picked up on the fact that Peridot had made such good use what she had at her disposal, no doubt Essence would have taken note of it as well).

Apparently Essence also shared her desire to move things forward, because she took over the inquiry without letting Corona continue with her theme.

"So what were you hoping to find on your visit to the Icosahedron?"

…

After she had given her reply to White Diamond, all the members of the Triumvirate smiled. For the first time since she'd sat down, Peridot got the feeling that they weren't actively looking for a reason to shatter her and Bixbite, and that they were just regular Gems -well, as regular as you could get with tiered diamonds (or formerly tiered, as circumstance had it).

Then the smiles faded and Blue Diamond asked her what she'd hoped to find in the library that day. She felt that the answer was obvious if they'd actually listened to her story, but as Apex had recommended, she wasn't about to push her luck by telling them that.

…

"…Validation." Peridot responded after carefully considering the question. The shortness of her answer drew looks of intrigue from all three of the Diamonds, but she wasn't finished yet:

"The projections I draw up at the start of every project have never been _wrong_ before -of course, there'll always be _some_ deviation from the model - that's expected - but with Earth it was different. My calculations were so off that it was a joke… I didn't think it was possible for _me_ to have got it so wrong, and no one would take any notice of what I was saying… Looking for the correct information at the Icosahedron was about proving a point: that the mistake was with the spotting department's records, not my projections. I went there to find the data that I needed to prove myself right."

She said it with the passion of one who totally believes what they're saying (which was easy because it was true). Thinking about how she only had to go to such lengths because her simpleton of a boss couldn't be bothered to do her job properly, made her seethe quietly in her chair.

"And what made you think that the archive records would tell you anything different from the spotting department's records?" White Diamond asked her next. It was the most serious Peridot had seen her since she entered the room.

'Dirt.' she thought in irritation. It was a good question.

'Come on, Peridot, think fast… Scientific. Curiosity… What makes you sound _least_ like a nosey troublemaker?'

"The department records are in constant use, I thought that someone might've overwritten the planet's file with another… I knew that if something like that had happened, then the archive would have the correct version." she said, taking care to say it like it was obvious without sounding condescending.

'I'm just _too_ good at this: I should've been a spy… or a politician…' she considered, not without a healthy measure of smugness.

"I see." said White Diamond.

"But when you found out about what happened on Earth, you didn't choose to leave it at that: instead, you decided that it would be a good idea to send a Red Eye there. Surely you must've known that sending _anything_ to an officially infeasible world wouldn't go unnoticed, let alone a terraforming device?" Blue Diamond asked her suspiciously, her dark brown eyes narrowed.

'Dirt.' Peridot thought again. She'd barely answered the last question in time, and now this one left no room for embellishment. Suddenly she felt a lot less smug.

The Gems in front of her weren't idiots; Blue Diamond's question demonstrated that quite decisively. She knew that they'd see straight through her if she gave anything less than the truth. But their being smart enough to ask a question like that could be used to her advantage: it might actually work in her favour to stop trying to outsmart them.

For the moment…

"Before I went to the archives I didn't even know the planet had a name, and then I saw what was in that file… all the things that no one's ever mentioned… I knew that it was only a matter of time before someone came to deal with me-"

"You make us sound so ruthless, Peridot." White Diamond interrupted, back to being her usual, casual self.

"What?! No, I didn't mean-" a panicked Peridot began to reply.

"It was merely an observation," the Diamond chuckled. 'As you were saying…"

"Sorry, Empress." she said, more out of surprised relief than genuine apology. "…It seemed probable that the information was an Authroity secret, and that knowing about it meant I had a high chance of being shattered; I wanted to find out if my theory about the war on Earth was correct before that happened… But there was also the possibility that somehow the planet had just been forgotten: if my theory turned out to be wrong, then Earth was just another viable world waiting to be seeded. …Right or wrong, I wanted to have some useful information by the time everything caught up with me."

"But you don't have any of that information yet?" Blue Diamond demanded.

"No, but-"

"Thank you, Peridot." said Blue Diamond, cutting her off.

"…Y- yes, Empress."

Peridot was dismayed by the turn that the conversation had just taken; it brought her back to the precariousness of her position with startling speed.

"Say your theory was correct, and there were Gems on Earth: what did you plan to do then?" Yellow Diamond continued the questioning.

"If the presence of Gems was detected on Earth, I would've approached the Authority… so that they could decide what to do with the information."

Peridot really hoped that it didn't sound as feeble to them as it did to her, but it was true; if they did make it that far, then without the Authority's permission there was zero chance of moving things forward **and** living to make use of the findings.

With the briefest pause to acknowledge her statement, Yellow Diamond pursued the possibility to its logical conclusion:

"And what about you and Bixbite, what do you think would happen to you then?"

"We'd either be thanked for our services to Homeworld by being allowed to continue serving it…or we'd be shattered… or imprisoned." Peridot admitted grimly.

She knew her answer was the right one when both Yellow and White Diamond began to smile; even Blue Diamond's expression softened slightly at her words.

'Yesyesyesyesyes!' she thought triumphantly.

…

Essence had always been slow to trust people, and this peridot was no exception. The Gem had already proved that she was intelligent, but unlike her accomplice she had an air of focused ambition… of arrogance about her; she reminded her of Corona in a few ways.

If they were going to allow Peridot to live they'd have to keep a close eye on her, and right now her interrogation had to be thorough: everything checked out at the moment, but she _would_ expose any inconsistencies or attempts to hide the truth…

…

"What exactly does Bixbite know about Earth, and your fact-finding exercise?" Blue Diamond asked.

Peridot sincerely hoped that her aggressive approach to interrogation wasn't personal: of all the Gems she would rather not have as an enemy, Blue Diamond was without a doubt at the top of the list.

"I told her everything -or I have done recently." Peridot said. She could feel a blush spreading across her cheeks; feeling it happen with the Triumvirate watching made her blush harder. Awkwardly, she continued, "Everything that I know from the archive file, she knows too. She hasn't seen the file itself though!" she made sure to tell them, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"She understands why _I_ wanted to send a probe of some kind to Earth… and she knows my suspicions about the outcome of the war. And she knows more about the capabilities of the Red Eye than I do, but she only launched it to help me…" she finished in desperation.

It wasn't betraying Bixbite, she was trying to save both of them. Telling the whole truth was the most logical thing to do… but even knowing that, she couldn't shake the awful feeling of guilt that had come with what she'd just told them.

"Yes, well we know all about _that_ …" White Diamond said with a knowing smile

And then there was silence.

Blue Diamond turned to Yellow Diamond and gave a silent nod before reclining in her chair. In a similar way, Yellow Diamond then shifted her focus to White Diamond, who responded with a quick tilt of her head.

This pause was the longest that they'd had all meeting, and the Diamonds' suddenly more relaxed looks led Peridot to assume that they were finally done with her.

She knew what would happen now: first, they'd send her ou-

"Peridot, how's your history?" Yellow Diamond asked her in an assertive, yet genial way.

…

' _History_?' she thought incredulously, 'what? …What does _that_ have to do with anything? We've already been through the bit that matters.'

This… wasn't how it was supposed to go.

But the expectant looks she was getting from the Triumvirate told her that she was going to answer the question anyway: what she had thought was the end of her interrogation apparently wasn't.

Something was about to happen… unlike the interrogation and the uncertainty of her and Bixbite's futures, the question was something that she couldn't have planned for, and it was leading to an outcome she couldn't predict.

Cautiously, Peridot gave Yellow Diamond her answer.

…

"It's... okay. I have an adequate knowledge of the most major events…"

"In that case I'd like you to tell us all you know about the Third Inorganic War, and the beginning of the Inclusion Era. Bear in mind that this is still part of our investigation." the imposing yellow Gem instructed her warningly.

"…Well, the war was started over a region of space, like the First and the Second Inorganic Wars. Gems were accused of declaring war on another inorganic race when we started colonising an outpost too close to one of theirs. They attacked us, and we defended ourselves… they paid dearly for interfering with us. When we'd won _that_ war, a _different_ enemy attacked us: they took advantage of our weakened state to try and capture the space that we'd just secured. We brought in reinforcements, and in the centuries it took for us to regain control of things, the original enemy regrouped and came back with allies. …I don't really know the specifics of the battles, but there were a lot of them, and they ended in a stalemate, which the race that we were fighting _first_ ended by detonating the closest stars.

I think the Inclusion Era started when the Three Diamonds left Homeworld to fight in the war, but it got _a lot_ worse when White Diamond came back, and people found out that Yellow Diamond had been shattered and Blue Diamond was missing: she… tried to restore order, but without the others she couldn't, and then the Authority was dissolved… that was the true end of the… structure -before the Triumvirates." she explained.

'That _sounds_ accurate, anyway…' Peridot thought, fairly confident that she'd remembered her history lessons correctly. It wasn't a priority of hers though; not with the question of _why_ she'd been asked that still burning in her mind… Obviously the Earth war and the Third Inorganic War were related in some way if they were asking her, but the Earth War had to have happened before the Third Inorganic War.

It hit her that she was still missing some major aspect of the truth; it was a real pain in the gem that she hadn't learned **anything** new since they'd launched the Red Eye.

…

White Diamond smiled broadly at the end of her summary, while Yellow Diamond was content with a less obvious grin; Blue Diamond allowed herself an enigmatic smirk. Surely her retelling of the story couldn't be _that_ wrong… could it?

Before she had a chance to properly contemplate the looks she was suddenly being given, Yellow Diamond laid her palm on the table and fluorescent blue text appeared on the glossy surface in front of her. She lifted her hand and tapped on the glowing writing a few times before saying:

"Apex, could you please escort our guest to the closest unoccupied cell." to no-one in particular, using a much quieter voice than the one she'd been conversing in. Then, looking directly at Peridot she said, "We're going to discuss with the council what we plan to do with you and Bixbite. When we're finished, you will both be brought back here to learn what action we've decided to take."

"Yes, Empress." was Peridot's short and strained reply.

…

When Blue Diamond had put her hand on the table and called for Shell to take her to a cell, Bixbite felt the tears start to form in her eyes. Showing off wasn't something that she enjoyed, but she realised that on this occasion she had been doing it, simply because she'd found their adventure so very exciting. She'd become so engrossed in telling the Diamonds what had happened that for a short while, all thoughts of shattering, or Peri's safety, or that they could both be in really serious trouble, had been forgotten. The mention of the cell had brought it all back...

The idea of being kept in prison upset her, but the fact that they thought it was necessary upset her even more: she'd told them everything she knew, and been totally honest about the things she didn't. All the way through she'd cooperated with them, why couldn't they understand that she and Peri weren't… threats to Homeworld, or anyone on it?

...

The way Bixbite's face had fallen when she heard that she was going to a cell, saddened Pavilion to the core of her gem. If she had been convinced that her intentions were malicious then it would be a different story, but Bixbite was one of the most good-natured Gems that she'd ever met, and Pavilion didn't believe that she had any intention of using what she knew to destabilise Homeworld, or incite some sort of movement. She had sworn to defend Gems like Bixbite, and make Homeworld great for them, not be needlessly suspicious of them.

"It's only temporary, my dear; while we talk to Peridot." she said to the forlorn Gem in the most reassuring way she could manage.

Corona looked at her in surprise and Essence eyed her warily. Neither expression mattered though: she was as much a Triumvir as either of them, and her words were hers to use as she pleased. It was important to give the impression of control and a no-nonsense approach, but equally important to her was having compassion for those that deserved it.

...

Shell led Bixbite through an opening in the wall and through a series of wide corridors, before reaching the room she'd be staying in until the Triumvirate had finished with Peridot. On the way the pearl had tried to make her feel better - which she was grateful for - but ultimately she'd had to leave her on her own because she was required to sit with the council.

The translucent yellow barrier served as the fourth wall of the room she had been confined in; its faint but ever-present hum an ominous reminder that she was going nowhere until someone came to get her.

She lay on her side with her legs bent and her face resting on her outstretched arm, closed her eyes, and hoped that they wouldn't be too hard on Peridot.

...

'That didn't go too badly at all.' Peridot said to herself as she and Apex walked to the cells. Her interrogation had gone about as well as was to be reasonably expected: they hadn't accused her of lying, she had spoken pretty confidently about everything (which surprised her slightly, given the individuals she was speaking _to_ ) and she'd explained what happened in the most advantageous way possible. The most comforting thing was that none of the Diamonds appeared to actively dislike her, not even Blue Diamond: with her intense and piercing stares...

But now that their comprehensive look through her mind was complete she didn't - as she had been expecting - feel much in the way of relief or despair. She just felt exhausted, like the process had drained all the feeling and energy out of her: she couldn't even be bothered to respond when Apex told her to 'enjoy her stay'. When the pale Gem had activated the barrier to her cell and stalked off, she made her way to the corner of her new room, glad of the opportunity to sit down and rest for a while.

Apart from her there was nothing in the cell, and the emptiness of it made her wish that Bixbite was there in the corner for her to hold. She wasn't in the same room, but Peridot knew she was in the building somewhere.

'It's my fault that she's here at all...' she thought with a sigh.


	9. The Children of the Four Diamonds

A vertical slit shot up the wall, and the two sections that had been created slid apart, revealing the backs of the seated Diamonds. Reluctantly Peridot and Bixbite parted their hands, but just before they started to move, Bixbite took advantage of their unseen position to give Peridot a swift kiss on the cheek; the green Gem smiled up at her warmly. Then the pair followed as Shell and Apex led them to the side of the table opposite the Triumvirate.

Shell presented them to the Diamonds, received a formal acknowledgement, and then left with Apex.

"Bixbite, Peridot, take a seat." Blue Diamond instructed them.

They did.

"Clearly, we've brought you back in here because we - and the council - have agreed on a solution to the problem you've presented us with." Yellow Diamond explained. "The conversation we're going to have requires your _full_ attention, so I'm going to tell you from the outset that you're **not** going to be shattered; either of you."

…

They'd done it.

They'd escaped.

Their daring, or their honesty, or her way with words… whatever had secured it, they had survived the Fifth Triumvirate. Peridot felt like she'd just regenerated, or fought the three of them and won; she felt even better than she had after her first kiss with Bixbite.

She breathed an audible sigh of relief, which escalated into a quiet, breathy laugh.

"Thank you… Thank you! Ju-… I- I'm- thank you _so_ much!" Bixbite babbled incoherently. If they were close enough, Peridot imagined that she would've tried to hug the Diamonds: thankfully the table was too big, and Bixbite turned to look at her instead. The expansive grin that Peridot's mouth had formed grew even wider when she saw Bixbite's face: her white teeth clearly visible against the red background of her skin.

Bixbite also started to laugh; first in a moderate kind of way, then much louder than Peridot had done, until it finally degenerated into startling, hysterical series of short exhalations. In an effort to calm her down a little, Peridot gently laid her fingers on Bixbite's forearm, meeting her eyes with a look of concern on her face.

Her laughing became even more erratic and her lips began to quiver, she looked scared and elated at the same time, and Peridot strengthened her grip slightly. Finally, Bixbite couldn't contain it anymore: she threw her arms around Peridot and sobbed uninhibitedly into her shoulder.

Reflexively, Peridot began to stroke her back, blushing with embarrassment when she found the Diamonds watching her. Yellow Diamond gave a small understanding nod and White Diamond smiled and slowly shook her head; Blue Diamond gave nothing away as she looked on, her face showing only the merest hints of seriousness as she waited for them to finish.

Finally, she went quiet and released Peridot.

…

"I am **_so_** sorry. I wasn't… I don't even know how I let that happen. But thank you, Empresses, so much… for not having us shattered…" Bixbite said sincerely.

"There's no need for you to apologise; it's natural that you'd be relieved after what you've been through recently. You should be able to concentrate better now, so we'll begin." said Yellow Diamond in a business-like manner.

"Peridot, most other spotters in your position would've taken one look at Earth's planetary data and assumed that everything was as written, and on a few previous occasions that's exactly what happened; that's how it was _supposed_ to happen. But as you've proved, just hiding something doesn't guarantee that the resourceful won't find it; _if_ they have an idea where to look.

Bixbite, you chose to take Peridot at her word and assist her with her task, even knowing the risks. Some might say that that was _very_ unwise of you, but you're a good judge of information and of character, and that combination has worked in your favour so far. Your actions speak volumes about your loyalty and your courage, and it's clear that Peridot would only seek the help of somebody that she thought could handle _all_ aspects of her problem.

…Gems with your skills… minds and qualities like yours: initiative, intuition, logic, subtlety, the drive to pursue what you feel is important, the will to do what is necessary… Gems like the two of you will always be of use to the Authority, and will always play a role in both the defence of Homeworld and the expansion of our race."

Yellow Diamond held Peridot's gaze for a long moment; instantly she knew that the Diamond hadn't forgotten what she'd said about serving Homeworld. From way things were going, she imagined that she'd be following those words through sooner rather than later…

"The beginning of that expansion is approaching quickly, and its relative imminence is the reason that you're still alive. From what the council has told us, every Triumvirate before ours would've had you shattered for knowing even the little that you've learned, because the time wasn't right to apply that information. Fortunately for you, ours is the path that yours has intersected with, and we feel that now _is_ the right time to begin re-establishing the ancient empire of the Gem race. The two of you are almost ideally positioned to play a role in that plan, which is why we've decided - unanimously, I might add - that your continued existence is of greater benefit to Gemkind than your shattering would be."

…

'In your faces, you clods! This is why you should listen to me when I'm telling you something!' thought a triumphant Peridot.

She'd proposed a number of outcomes to what she and Bixbite had done, some more likely than others. Helping to rebuild an empire was **not** one she had given much thought to. She was hardly going to complain though: five minutes earlier she had been convinced that she was going to die.

The ruler Diamonds had recognised her (obvious) worth, she'd somehow managed to end up in a relationship with Bixbite and now she was going to change the world.

'You can't even buy skills like these…' she smirked momentarily, feeling more smug than she'd ever felt before.

…

"The planet Earth is one of a few strategically chosen worlds that will serve as the foundation of this new empire, but before its colonization is officially authorized there are certain… loose ends, that must be tied up. Since you two already know as much about it as you do, **_you_** will be doing the tying: after all, you two possess all the ingenuity required for work like this, and that means we don't have to introduce any more potential risks during these delicate first stages." Yellow Diamond paused for a moment, allowing her words to be processed.

She looked into Bixbite and Peridot's faces, gauging their reactions so far. The yellow glow of her eyes had an almost hypnotic effect on the pair, who watched her in silence; they looked a little tense, but focused on her - eager to find out what was coming next.

She went on.

"But we can hardly expect you to do anything useful, when at the moment you know almost nothing of the world you're going to be working with. ...It'd be idiotic and dangerous to try and leave you in the dark, and so, we are going to re-educate you. You sought answers; and answers you shall get."

Finished for the time being, the yellow Shard representative leaned back in her chair, placed one leg across the other and interlocked her fingers.

The confident voice of White Diamond then refocused their attention.

"Indeed." she said, giving a nod of acknowledgement to Yellow Diamond. "Now, my fellow Triumvirs have nominated me for the task of illuminating the two of you; I suppose it's only fitting that such a thing should fall to me, given that I am of the white Shard…" she finished slyly.

Neither Peridot nor Bixbite quite understood what the Diamond meant by that, but they kept respectfully quiet and waited for her to continue.

"Before we were promoted to the Triumvirate, we were convinced by the version of history that we had been taught: the story of the Third Inorganic War made near perfect sense, and at a superficial glance, had reasonable evidence to support it.

But the truth is, the war as we were led to understand it, that pivotal part of our race's history... is an illusion; artifice most intricately crafted, a fabrication of simply awe-inspiring scale.

...

Essence sighed internally, wondering why she had agreed to let Corona give the history lesson.

'Because she'll sell it best.' the blue Gem reminded herself.

She didn't feel that Corona was as serious about their job (or anything else for that matter) as she should be, but as frivolou as White Diamond could be, she had a way with words. The story would undoubtedly be shorter if she or Pavilion were to tell it, but Corona's more elaborate approach to conversation would go far in persuading the Gems before them that they were privileged to have such knowledge, and not burdened by it. Bixbite and Peridot's involvement in the situation had saved the Authority a great deal of time and effort: if Corona's verbose way of telling the story would allay their concerns and guarantee their continued interest in the matter, then Essence could put up with it.

…

"Like we were, and the vast majority of people still are, you're under the impression that the Third Inorganic War was fought against three distinct inorganic races, in whichever star system it supposedly took place in. _Unlike_ the majority, you two know of the planet Earth, and suspect that something is amiss with the way it fits -or fails to fit in with established Gem history.

It may be difficult at first, but you're going to have to dispense with the idea that there were two wars, because the Third Inorganic War and the war for the Earth are in fact one and the same."

…

'What!? But that... that doesn't make any sense. Why would they need to lie if… if -oh my Gem!' Bixbite wondered, clapping her hands to her mouth as she realised something that she and Peridot should've picked up on before.

…

"It all begins with a rose quartz; Rose Quartz of Pentagonal Facet, of the House of Quartz, of the Town in the Cove Favoured by the Third Moon. At that time she was a planetary spotter, first class; and it was she who discovered the planet. But more than that, she was the representative of the Fourth Shard."

…

'Huh?' thought Peridot, frowning slightly before she worked out that White Diamond was probably talking about the pink diamond that appeared in the old version of the Authority's seal.

'I knew it!' she said to herself. The nameless rose quartz _did_ have a name, and she was right to suspect that she'd had something to do with the Authority.

Things were getting more interesting by the second…

…

"For obvious reasons, the first power structure to emerge from the Technicolour War was composed only of diamonds, and the three victorious Shards sought to retain their new power for as long as possible. The regime that they created was seen as needlessly oppressive and rapidly became unpopular; within a few centuries Homeworld was facing another war, this one involving **all** varieties of Gem. To prevent that war and ensure the white, blue and yellow Shards retained a measure of their control over the world, the decision was made to reduce the number of diamonds in authority, and introduce a greater number of Gems from other varieties. The leader of this 'Fourth Shard' was made an honorary Diamond, with a status equal to the actual Diamonds.

Rose Quartz was the last representative of the Fourth Shard; the Blue Diamond of that age suggested that she apply for the position, and she won it with overwhelming support. However, she'd only discovered Earth a few years before, and when the time came for those that were working on the project to explore it first-hand, she wished to go with them. The other Diamonds agreed that even though she was going offworld, she would keep her rank and continue to rule upon her return.

But that return would never take place…

The ground samples that the spotting department probes brought back from Earth contained an abundance of microscopic organic creatures, and upon arrival the planet was found to be ideal for seeding, exactly as predicted: their first hours on Earth revealed that much larger organisms were living there as well; a promising start, as I'm sure you both understand."

…

'Yep, we understand.' Bixbite thought, nodding in confirmation.

She tended to think of organics as an indication of a sort of 'fuel quality', when it came to world seeding. If the ground was the fuel, then its quality was measured by the sizes of organisms that dwelt on the surface: larger life forms meant that there was an abundance of energy at every level of life, right down to the ground, and more energy within the ground meant more Gems per unit area.

'Simple transmutation theory!' she thought proudly.

…

"However, there was one species on that world that would change everything."

At that point White Diamond paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.

"The data you uncovered at the Icosahedron makes no mention of the human race, does it?" she asked after a few seconds.

"No, Empress." Peridot replied as Bixbite vigorously shook her head.

The pale Diamond smiled briefly.

"Well, humans were the dominant species on Earth -which can't've been all that difficult, seeing as they were the _only_ species on the planet that could pass as intelligent; and they fit that description by a very narrow margin…" she quickly informed them, her voice full of disdain.

"Anyway, like the rest of the vermin infesting that world, they were organic… category eleven life forms according to your classification system, I believe. The most interesting thing about these creatures was the resemblance that they bore to Gems; the similarity between them and us in our default forms, was simply disturbing: if not for our gems, one could easily mistake us for the same race."

Peridot moved her head slightly to look at Bixbite, wondering if she was wondering if they were going to be shown an image of a human; if they were then that would come later, because White Diamond went on:

"The team led by Rose Quartz was fascinated by these beings to the point of obsession. They seemed to forget that despite the physical resemblance, they were still just organics -detritus of the lowest order. They failed to remember, or rather **ignored** the fact that they were there for a specific purpose." she spat viciously, her face the picture of acute revulsion.

…

There weren't many things that could provoke Corona, but organics were something she found truly disgusting. The thought of Gems willingly demeaning themselves for such dirty, meaningless creatures… was quite frankly embarrassing: an irremovable smear on their history.

…

"Instead of commencing with kindergarten operations, Rose Quartz contacted her fellow Diamonds and explained to them that the spotting department had opted not to seed the Earth: using her guile and status within the Authority, and her relationship with Blue Diamond, she _actually_ managed to persuade them to come to Earth and see her new favourites with their own eyes." White Diamond said in a way suggesting that even now, she couldn't quite believe that had really happened… that she didn't _want_ to believe that it had really happened.

…

Peridot could totally sympathise with White Diamond's attitude toward the subject. Organic species were almost pointless, something to be exterminated on every world on which they existed -if you could even call what they had an existence: their nasty, imperfect little bodies were so fragile that even if they did manage not to get killed by some mundane occurrence, they'd eventually die on their own... naturally! Something with such a major defect built into its design was clearly not supposed to last, and what could they even hope to accomplish with such short lives when they never even cooperated anyway?

'What a waste of resources.' she thought disapprovingly.

…

Essence found it petty - the way that most Gems seemed to passionately hate organics, simply for being organic. Personally, she found their persistence as admirable, and every so often their struggles to survive yielded something of use to Gemkind; people - especially people like Corona - seemed to overlook that.

As long as no good reason was found to commit xenocide on an organic species, she thought that they show be allowed to continue existing. A few of the scientists on Earth had shared her opinion: one of the projects there that she was particularly interested in concerned Gem-human hybridization. A project like that could open all kinds of doors that the small-minded would never even consider…

However, _if_ any partnership was to occur, then Gems would have to make sure that the organics didn't gain any advantages of tactical significance; that would be asking for trouble.

And anyway, it was the other inorganic races that had to be watched most vigilantly: they were a lot harder to kill…

…

"In time, each of the three Diamonds warped to Earth and saw the fabled humans. More than anything else, they were amused by our unlikely copies; those… flawed creatures. As a species they didn't consider humans a threat to our race, and it would've taken a series of very improbable events for them to even start worrying about the Gems that had landed there with Rose Quartz. They chose to allow the scientists to continue with their xenobiology experiments, and cultural interactions with the humans: reasoning that they could always change their minds and contest the spotting department if the situation changed.

But they weren't just going to leave Rose Quartz on Earth with her crew, totally unsupervised, with three starships worth of transmutation equipment… Each of the three diamond Shard representatives controlled a section of Homeworld's military, and between the three of them they made sure that a proportion of the army was sent to the planet, in case the Fourth Shard representative was formulating her own plans for Earth. At the same time, a comparable number of ordinary Gems were encouraged to go to; so as not to arouse Rose Quartz's suspicion if she _had_ gone rogue."

Peridot felt the room get a little colder as White Diamond's voice took on a more sinister quality, darkening the mood.

"As is the case now, the yellow Shard representative was the overseer of colonization back then, even though Rose Quartz's unique affiliation with both the spotting department and the Authority was blurring some of the lines between the two roles. Because of her position, Yellow Diamond's portion of the military was larger than that of the others, and in addition to the regular forces she sent to Earth, she arranged for a special selection of Gems to go as well; separate from the main group…

Time went by, and the inevitable authorization to seed the Earth was given; a decision brought about by two important factors:

Firstly, the human race proved to be as useless to us as any other organic species: anything we could've wanted them to build, we could build better and in a fraction of the time, and though their bodies were capable of self-repair, they were still too fragile to do most the things that they might've assisted us with.

Secondly - and most disturbingly - it appeared that Rose Quartz was gaining a significant personal following. Gems of certain dispositions: those denied fusion permits, the obviously defective, many of the older kindergarten created Gems… ne'er-do-wells, and those that held some grudge against the Authority; these outcasts and misfits were embracing their 'new home', and Rose Quartz. The more lenient way that Gem activities were being conducted on Earth held allure for a lot of people, and the planet had unofficially become an offworld colony; one that seemed largely under the control of the honorary pink Diamond.

A colony occupied by Gems, infested by organics, and under anything less than the _full_ control of the Authority… was **not** a colony that Homeworld would allow to persist. Activating the kindergarten was a move meant to destroy the organics - reminding the Gems on Earth that they were still answerable to Homeworld - while at the same time redressing the balance between potential renegades and those that would fight to defend a civilized existence, if it came to that."

…

Although things had ended in the worst possible way on that occasion, Pavilion thought that the Authority had acted in quite a reasonable fashion, knowing what it had at the time. It wasn't that she had anything against the organic races - to her, they held the same status as gas clouds, or asteroids, or stars; just another part of the universe which Gems happened to inhabit - but if they got in the way of Gem affairs then she would take issue with them, as she would with anything else that did.

The reality was that the universe was a harsh place, and Gems could survive conditions that would've ended the humans, which were few in number anyway; therefore it made more sense for Gems to occupy the Earth, even if that meant the human race died out faster. It would've been unfortunate, but the deaths of the humans wouldn't have been needless.

It angered her to think of Rose Quartz's short sightedness.

…

"Earth's new kindergarten was - at that time - state-of-the-art: it boasted the fastest production rates of the age, flash-learning equipment, more intelligent injectors and most importantly, the whole facility was concealed underground. The place was built, initialized and maintained in total secrecy by Yellow Diamond's additional forces: a group of the finest scientists and warriors that she commanded. Away from the other Gems on the planet they grew and trained those that would go on to fight in the war for the Earth. When the number of kindergarten Gems outstripped the anticipated number that were loyal to Rose Quartz, the Diamonds requested her presence on Homeworld to inform her that full colonization of the planet was going to commence. They debated at length about the humans: whether it was right or wrong to eradicate their species like that, the possibility that they might continue to live in harmony together, and all the rest. But ultimately the Pink Diamond was outvoted, and saw that she had to relent.

Only she had no intention of complying with their decree.

One of the greatest underestimations in the history of our race was of the feelings that Rose Quartz harboured for the humans. Very shortly after the meeting of the four Diamonds a letter was sent to the Authority, a final, audacious plea for Homeworld not to colonize the Earth. The reply was swift and to the point; telling Rose Quartz that if she did anything to oppose the plans they had set in motion, it would be considered a declaration of war.

A message to the effect of 'so be it' was all Homeworld received in response, shortly before losing contact with Earth through the standard channels, and being unable to reach it from any planet on the interplanetary warp grid. Fortunately, communications with the kindergarten were unaffected by whatever the traitorous Gems had done: the situation was explained to the General in charge-"

"Lieutenant General." Essence corrected her.

Ordinarily she wouldn't have bothered commenting on the small mistake as everything was there for Bixbite and Peridot to read in detail later, but the Gem that Corona was referring to was an inspiration to Essence; it was fitting for her to be discussed accurately.

The enthralled pair noticed the minute twitch of White Diamond's mouth after she'd been interrupted. They both wondered if the Diamonds were going to have a dispute in front of them… but no, the white Gem's expression turned to one of amusement and she carried on.

"Sorry, the _Lieutenant_ General in charge of the base… was notified of the developments and told to accelerate production in preparation for the coming war.

The relatively small force that had been sent with the civilian Gems, had either been overwhelmed by or joined Rose Quartz's army, because there was no sign of them when the first wave of soldiers reached Earth to engage the rogue Gems. The kindergarten products were merged with the forces from Homeworld, and the war for the Earth began."

She chuckled.

"Funny, isn't it? How the Third Inorganic War really was fought between inorganics, just not the ones that we've always learned about… Whoever would've guessed that one of our greatest offworld conflicts would be against members of our own race… Gem against Gem."

…

'That's not funny, that's just awful!' Bixbite thought, reminded again that she was afraid of the three Diamonds (well, not so much Yellow Diamond; she had the scariest face, but had turned out to be the nicest of the three of them. It was really lucky, because Bixbite got the feeling that she was the leader… 'wait… can there _be_ a leader -if they all have the same job?').

She didn't like the idea of exterminating a whole race of intelligent beings, it seemed… wrong. That said, organic races generally had short lives which they had been known to go to _extreme_ lengths trying to prolong; if they weren't doing that then it was because they were trying to destroy each other (their other favourite thing to do), almost exclusively over some insignificant difference between different groups within their species, or over land (which there was always enough of anyway)… Gems had some marked differences between certain varieties, and _they_ didn't even destroy each other as often as the organics did.

The fact Rose Quartz was so willing to fight with them, **for** them... she just couldn't understand it.

'She'd destroy her own kind, other Gems... for those sort of people... Why? Who could even _do_ something like that!?'

…

"It was expected that the fighting would be over quickly, but that was miscalculation… to say the least. In the time it took Homeworld to send its troops to Earth, Rose Quartz had turned her crowd of followers into a very respectable army; with the advantage of being on familiar terrain, and the strength of the purpose that drove them to fight, the 'Earth' Gems did considerable damage to Homeworld's forces in the first stages of the war. The Diamonds had once again underestimated Rose Quartz; if you take a closer look at the events of the war it very quickly becomes apparent that she was a magnificent tactician… she would've been an asset to Homeworld if she hadn't sworn allegiance to that filth.

But the kindergarten remained operational, and despite the time it took to transport them, more soldiers were deployed on Earth. Gradually the armies of our home world were able to reverse their misfortune, steadily securing positions all across the planet. That said, the commanders of our forces noticed a worrying trend of desertion as the war progressed."

...

While Corona's disgust was directed at the organics, Pavilion's was fixed squarely on the ones that switched sides. To be a member of the Gem race was a wonderful, improbable thing: she was outraged at the notion that one might even consider turning their weapon against the planet that gave them life, and using what they were in the service of another race.

...

"At its most basic level the problem was easy enough to solve: those that were caught were interrogated and shattered; Gems unwilling to fight for the interests of their race were clearly unworthy of being part of it."

Interrogation.

Peridot knew that she would never feel the same way about the word again: even the mention of it was enough to make her feel tense...

"At a higher level there were much greater concerns… like _where_ , when questioned, the deserters revealed they were going. You see, Rose Quartz's message was striking a chord with some of the very Gems she was fighting; they were willing to betray Homeworld for the sake of her misguided ideals.

Twice the Diamonds had underestimated their pink adversary; it was not a mistake that they would make again…

The Gems that were on Earth knew exactly what was happening, but the Gems on Homeworld and the other offworld colonies knew only of Rose Quartz's little expedition to the planet. From the reaction that even trained soldiers were having to her ideas, the Diamonds could only imagine the division it might cause among Gems if they were to learn the details of Earth's war. Thus, the Third Inorganic War was presented in its place."

White Diamond smiled wickedly at the two of them:

"A faraway war for resources, fought against inorganic enemies… It sounds terribly familiar doesn't it? …Which is precisely why it worked so well. The First and the Second Inorganic War had started for almost identical reasons; it wasn't difficult to imagine that a third would occur in much the same way. History - as they say - has a nasty habit of repeating itself…

The standard procedure for an offworld war was to move everyone to the most secure colonies, or Homeworld itself, and take the warp grid offline in case any of its planets were invaded. I'm sure you can guess what this meant with regards to Earth…"

It only took a moment for Bixbite to work out what it meant, and White Diamond's silence told her that either she or Peridot was supposed to say something; her lips were moving long before she had worked out how to say it.

"Umm, well… nobody would be looking for it -I mean the Earth, I mean… Uh, yes! Sorry… What I mean is that if _all_ the colonies were inaccessible, then nobody would find it weird that the Earth's warp pads weren't working… yes."

"Exactly. If the same thing has happened everywhere, then something unusual becomes ordinary, and ordinary rouses the least suspicion: those that weren't fighting in it had no idea that the war was being waged against Gems, and the Diamonds intended to keep it that way.

Back on Earth, Rose Quartz's scouts were being apprehended closer and closer to the kindergarten: the exposure of its location would've made it a constant target until its destruction; an outcome that it was imperative to prevent. You read that the kindergarten was destroyed before it could be commandeered, but those in charge dealt with the threat in a far more effective way: operations were shut down, all personnel reassigned to different fronts, and the still incubating Gems left to burn themselves out. The resulting damage to the kindergarten had the appearance of being significant, but was merely superficial; it was made to look as though there had been some kind of accident because really, if Rose Quartz's forces thought that it was inoperable, then they'd have no reason to do any further damage to it."

…

Peridot had already deduced that if the Third Inorganic War and the Earth War were the same thing, then the dates in the Icosahedron records had been shifted backwards by several hundred years. Hearing that the war had broken out before the kindergarten was 'destroyed' confirmed her newest theory that the record had been altered further to make the war look a lot less serious. Someone, at some point, had done an incredible job in spreading misinformation…

…

"With Homeworld's main source of new troops unavailable, the war - which was already taking far longer to win than expected - became increasingly difficult. The armies of Rose Quartz took full advantage of the situation, and before long they had regained an equal footing with Homeworld. Neither side was able to overpower the other, and so a stalemate set in: one that would last the best part of five hundred years.

It was brought to an end by the Gems created in Earth's kindergarten, in a way that was absolutely detrimental to the very cause they were supposed to be fighting for. …Our ancient predecessors called this planet Homeworld, and for a lot of Gems it is that in the purest sense of the name: we were formed here, we were raised here, taught to be Gems here; wherever we go and whatever we do, the fact will always remain that we are each a literal part of this living world. But kindergarten Gems have no such reason to call this their home, though many of them choose to; it's understandable if they aren't as attached to Homeworld as we are. Had the armies of Homeworld understood this better, then perhaps the war may've had a different outcome. You see, as it dragged on, those Gems that had been made on Earth matured, as did their understanding of who they were, what they were doing on Earth and why they were doing it; many declared that Earth was their actual home, and that the humans had as much as of right to exist there as they did. It didn't help that kindergarten Gems weren't treated as… favourably as they are now; with hindsight it's no surprise that they defected: who would care to fight for an army that viewed them as impure, owing to the circumstances of their formation?

Over the next two hundred years, roughly a third of those kindergarten created would leave -or attempt to leave the imperial army for that of the Earth's, critically impairing Homeworld's campaign.

Feeling that the war had gone on for far too long already, with little to show for it, the three true Diamonds resolved to personally put an end to Rose Quartz and her rebellion. They made their second and final trip to Earth, an event that marks the beginning of the end of the war. The last few years of the conflict are simply astonishing; the arrival of their supreme Generals boosted the morale of the troops like nothing else, and the ferocity of the fighting ascended to levels previously unseen. Any mercy or restraint that had previously been shown by Homeworld evaporated: the weapons and tactics employed... many must be seen before they're believed…"

…

"Ah." was the response Corona remembered giving when they'd told her to use the pyramid (a prism, they'd called it) to summon the army.

'Because it's just _so easy_ to summon 'the army'… With no instruction…'

She'd had nothing worry about, because it really was that easy to summon the army: all she'd had to do was pick up the prism, and the first of the… monsters had appeared in front of her. It stomped closer to her and she thought briefly about attacking it (despite its enormous size), but it didn't look like it was going to attack her so she left it alone. Thinking she was finished, she turned back to the panel, who watched her impassively; no, she wasn't finished yet.

Reasoning that no idea was a bad idea, she cleared her throat theatrically and spoke to the creature:

"You **will** bring forth the army."

And her wish was granted. The white being split into seven coloured creatures, each as threatening as the original; abruptly, the panel told her to return the army to the prism, after which she was free to leave.

Then she'd ascended to the Triumvirate, and the council told her that _every_ Gem powerful enough to wield one would've done so during the later stages of the war. The light prisms were just a small part of all that was to be seen; Apex had shown them many other things: the heavily armoured war machines, powered by the gems of the Gems that operated them, explosives that would throw those nearby into the warp, strange, modified injectors capable of reactivating volcanoes… and even she hadn't seen everything.

A while ago, when she, Pavilion and Essence were being educated, she thought for the merest fraction of a second that she might be out of her depth as a Triumvir. But Pavilion seemed nearly as awestruck as she was, and even Essence looked humbled by the last parts of the war. Then she remembered that the three of them were equals, no matter what they had or had not come across before; should anything like Rose Quartz's rebellion happen again, they owed it to the pre-Triumvirate Diamonds to fight any enemy, with any tools they had available to them.

And she owed it to her Shard to look amazing while doing so.

…

Bixbite noticed Blue Diamond give White Diamond a subtle but serious glance; it looked to her a bit like a warning, which White Diamond seemed to accept because she quickly continued speaking, leaving no room for any questions.

"But for as many gains as their renewed vigour brought them, Homeworld was losing control of the Earth. The Diamonds predicted the loss of the war, and with it the demise of the Gem race if the attitudes of Rose Quartz were allowed to affect Homeworld and the other colonies. Thus, on the back of the Third Inorganic War, the greatest contingency plan in the history of Gemkind was conceived.

The war had taught the Diamonds many things: about the natures of different types of Gem, about warfare, about the drives and motivations of the people, of what they supported and why. They saw the future of our race being very different to its present reality, and because of the way events had come to pass their vision could be realized. _Tremendous_ sacrifices would be made, but they knew that the rewards would ultimately make them far more than worth it.

In the final battle of the war, Blue Diamond fought Rose Quartz to the death. She felt that it was largely her fault that the pink Diamond had become what she had, and was determined to solve the problem she had created, or die trying. Evenly matched in their skill with a weapon, the two turned to their magic; the idea that Blue Diamond went missing during the war is partly true: nobody knows where she is, because the object Rose Quartz used to defeat her is said to have literally wiped her from the face of the planet in a beam of pink light. None of the survivors of the war remember seeing anything like it before, and have never seen anything like it since.-


	10. The World Refacetted

-The failure of Blue Diamond set their plan in motion: Yellow Diamond led Homeworld's forces against Rose Quartz's, ensuring that the rebels were occupied while White Diamond retired with a carefully chosen few. They would oversee the creation of the new age. Including her, there were forty nine of these Gems: scientists from the kindergarten, those with special magical abilities, scouts, fusions, Gems created on Earth, strategists; all of them brilliant in some way, and ready to die for their world at a moment's notice. As Yellow Diamond made her sacrificial assault, this group boarded a single starship to begin their journey home.

On that starship there was a device; a weapon, made specifically for use against Gems... the only working model ever to be made.

The future that the three true Diamonds had envisioned was built on an enduring unity between Gems, and in it there was no room for the memory of Rose Quartz, or the Earth, or for any of the Gems that had fought to protect it and its humans. Anyone that had previously opposed Homeworld was a threat to the new order… even the slightest chance that someone might return from Earth to spread their corrupt version of events was too great, **_every last one_** **_of them_** had to be wiped out. Yellow and Blue Diamond understood this perfectly, and just as they had planned, White Diamond's weapon was deployed as the ship cleared its blast range."

As she snorted with what was probably amusement, Peridot could see the bitterness in her face. She didn't really think much of the Diamond, but it was somehow nice to see that she was capable of more than just smugness and derisive smiles.

"Ironically, the way that it worked meant that organic matter was left totally unscathed; its effects were limited to the gems of those caught up in its field… But the battle was the one that was going to decide the outcome of the war, and every soldier on either side would've been in the area; thus when it went off, all of them would've been shattered simultaneously, regardless of variety or loyalty…"

…

Pavilion had the utmost respect for the Invisible Empress, as she had come to be called. Only a Gem of the strongest character could've agreed to leave the battle and use the weapon, knowing what it would do to her own side. She was a role model, but one that couldn't be appreciated until the time was right.

…

"While any of the Diamonds were still alive, there was no chance that Rose Quartz's army would've gone unpunished for what they'd done; the cost had been dear, but _finally_ , after over a thousand years of war, the enemy had been destroyed.

…Homeworld was in a state of emergency when the survivors returned to it. The temporary leaders that the three Diamonds had left in charge were only too happy to relinquish their powers back to White Diamond, so great and numerous were the problems that the world faced.

It is recorded that White Diamond failed entirely in her bid to bring stability back to Homeworld, but that couldn't be further from the truth…

Her first action was to tell the world of what 'happened' during the Third Inorganic War after the Diamonds left: the shattering and disappearance of the other Shard representatives, the fact that the war was over, but no one had actually won it, the explosion of the stars in the system -which very conveniently meant that no evidence of the war would ever be found…

When asked about Pink Diamond, the quiet and simple response was that she fled when the Third Inorganic War broke out and never returned. Between the time that she left for Earth and the announcement of war, Homeworld hadn't publically heard from Rose Quartz; so with the fact that she didn't return as the warp grid was being taken offline, there wasn't much to suggest that she _hadn't_ fled. On Earth she had transformed into much more than a Gem, she had become an idea - a dangerous and divisive one at that - the Diamonds had determined that the best way to stop people from adopting that idea, was to make sure that they never got to hear it in the first place: since she and all the rebels had been shattered on Earth, nobody was going to find out what she'd been fighting for, or that she'd even been fighting at all. In telling the population that Rose Quartz had abandoned them, White Diamond ensured that they would soon abandon the memory of her.

Of course, while the people were left ignorant, the remaining members of the Authority were told the truth of the war's end. The grand design for Homeworld was explained to them, and those who could appreciate its logic were included in it, those who couldn't suffered the same fate as Earth's defenders.

With the Authority taken care of, White Diamond turned back to the people. A race more powerful than ever before was to be formed, held together by Gems with a common purpose. But what she had before her was a population in panic: missing most of its leaders, split between multiple colonies, lacking an army and fearing invasion because of it. Given time the situation could've been rectified, but the people had to completely let go of the ideas of the past, and be guided into a future very different to what they were used to, by a leadership unlike those that had come before it. Life was going to be made better on Homeworld, permanently; but before that could happen it was going to get a _lot_ worse... You two know this period of restructuring as the Era of Inclusion, and as you might expect from the top-down reorganisation of a whole planet, it was lengthy, painful and generously encrusted with violence.

Messages were sent to the remaining offworld colonies, urging their residents to return to Homeworld where they would be safer. The idea appealed to many people, and the population doubled, and then nearly trebled in a very short period of time. When all those that could be persuaded with words had returned home, White Diamond dispatched clandestine teams to the colonies; survivors of the war for the Earth, equipped with experimental weapons for use on strategic targets. It didn't take much time for the stubborn to believe that they were under attack from the remnants of the Third Inorganic War, and in short order they too were back where they belonged.

With virtually every Gem in existence living on Homeworld, the idea that it had become overcrowded spread among the people. The pervasive feeling of anxiety had created a volatile atmosphere, and the mass integration served as the spark that started the fire, so to speak. It was just one problem too many, triggering the world's descent into _utter_ pandemonium...

Like the three of us, you two were inducted too recently to have experienced the inclusion era first-hand, but you will have heard it described in all its grim detail before: the uncertainty, the despair, the fighting and rioting...

And White Diamond was responsible for it all."

…

Peridot agreed that the old White Diamond had messed up, big time; but the way the new one had said it, like it was something to be proud of, told her that things were not as they currently appeared to be.

Bixbite immediately knew that they were about to learn something even more shocking; she moved her hands from the table to her lap and then back again, turning to look at Peridot uneasily.

She smiled weakly at her, wanting to reassure the green Gem, but at the same time scared by how rapidly the world was changing around her, and needing some reassurance herself.

…

Interpreting their troubled exchange as disbelief, Corona began the analysis of what she'd just said.

"Yes, the Gem who is always blamed for _letting_ it happen, _made_ it happen. Blue and Yellow Diamond made sacrifices in a more physical sense, but the white Shard representative also had an important part to play, if their plan was to have the desired effect.

If you ignore the fear and disorder, its impossible not to notice that there was a planet bursting with talented Gems, trying not to get killed as society collapsed. White Diamond sought the smartest economists and financiers and, promising them that they were making the world a better place, asked them to **_ruin_** the economy... well, what was left of it after the war...

Slowly and meticulously they carried out their mission, which…"

…

As Corona went off on her tangent, Pavilion slowly turned to Essence, who was also leaning back in her chair; the blue Gem rolled her eyes at Corona's attempt to convince everyone how interesting this part of the story was, making Pavilion grin broadly.

…

Corona was disappointed that she hadn't been there; if was just a few centuries older then she could've been part of that ingenious group. To be part of a team that was at the forefront of changing the world - using all their skills to do pretty much the exact opposite of what they were used to doing, in a way that no one was supposed to notice - would've been an incredible challenge, and a masterpiece of financial engineering.

At some point she realised that she had lost the attention of her students, which had shifted to something behind her. Taking a look either side at Essence and Pavilion revealed nothing: the yellow diamond met her gaze with an expression that said 'yes?', and the blue diamond raised an eyebrow to the same effect.

She frowned at the pair and then faced Peridot and Bixbite once again.

"But anyway, as _they_ carried out _their_ mission, White Diamond assembled a detachment of those who had accompanied her back to Homeworld, and gave them one of their own. Rose Quartz had faded considerably in the minds of the people, but the major reminders of her and of the Fourth Shard still had to be dealt with before she could be expunged entirely. Those Gems were tasked with shattering any elements that had strongly supported Rose Quartz, but had not gone to Earth for whatever reason. Behind the veil of mayhem that already shrouded Homeworld, they not only dispatched the undesirables, but destroyed monuments, libraries, records, art…

Like the economist's, their work blended seamlessly into the background disorder, appearing as a _terrible_ but not unforeseeable consequence of the disorder that gripped the world." White Diamond said sarcastically. It was clear to Peridot that she was rather thrilled by the secret activities of the inclusion era.

"For the three hundred years after the war White Diamond presided over the chaos: carefully directing the misery and fanning the flames of discord… On one hand she had to sit by as she was labelled as incompetent, selfish and uncaring… and on the other hand she had to keep to her course of action every day, knowing that it was _she_ who was orchestrating the suffering of the Gem race.

But she was strong, and she knew that it was a necessary evil; the world had crumbled around her, and in complete secrecy she had put in place the measures that were needed to rebuild it properly.

Eventually, her arduous task was all but complete: things were beginning to fall into place, and the time had come for her place Homeworld in the hands of those who were to rule it in the future.

Despite missing some of its Diamonds, Homeworld's leadership had been an effective unit; the survivors and the longstanding members of the Authority had formed a coherent and sensible group, and had assisted and supported White Diamond at every stage of her endeavour to change the world. She decided that no matter how Homeworld was run it needed such an institution, and so the council was established.

The economists and the Gems that had purified the world for its rebirth also had their services recognised: the new Homeworld was to be built on strong foundations, and the way that those individuals had put the future prosperity of Gemkind over their personal notions of right and wrong, was an example of that strength. Though it would be a long time before either was made official, the Department of Finance and the Department of Clarity were created.

Finally, she brought the most intelligent and powerful diamonds of the age together for a meeting, as it was they who would lead the Gem race out of the inclusion era. She imparted to them the knowledge that had been accumulated over the last one and a half thousand years or so, instructing them to first choose leaders amongst themselves from the blue, white and yellow Shards, and then to use what she had taught them to move the world forward as they saw fit. However, she made it clear to them that though they should work with the council: ultimately they would be the ones with the power, but without the council's expertise their reign would be short, unsuccessful and quickly forgotten.

With that, White Diamond's work was finished: she had set the destination, and it was now up to others to complete the journey into the next era. The rest of the story is known to everyone: the official dissolution of the old Authority, the implementation of the tiering system for our variety, the development of the Triumvirate-council structure and all the rest."

Apparently the white Shard representative had said all she wanted to say, because then she relaxed her posture, slowly and dramatically ran a hand through her hair, and grinned at Peridot and Bixbite conspiratorially.

...

Bixbite sat completely still as her mind tried to process everything that White Diamond had just told them. It was horrible: so many people had died, and been scared for so long… it didn't even seem possible that so many people could believe such a lie, but they did, they had, for millennia. 'What sort of minds could create a story like that? ' she wondered.

It struck her that she'd had such an idyllic view of life and universe before this, she felt like crying, but the tears didn't seem to want to come out.

'Oh my Gem. Am I… broken?'

She knew it was a silly question, but a part of her questioned if she could be the same as she was before, knowing what she knew now. She really hoped so…

Then she felt her eyes start to water, and gave a quiet sniffle; of course she would be the same: she still cared deeply about all her fellow Gems, she was still _Bixbite_ , the individual that was her… she just knew more about the world now, and she had an even more important secret to keep, and an important job to do -well, she hadn't been given a job yet, but she still had her old job, and…

Most importantly, she still had Peridot: if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't be here… they wouldn't be a 'they' at all; she felt sort of glad to know what she now knew, even if things did seem darker now, somehow…

There was no one she'd rather share this adventure with then Peri; but she wondered if she'd be able to keep her safe if things got dangerous. She felt a twinge of fear as she glanced at her serious green face, realising that she probably couldn't.

But she could learn to…

...

Peridot's thoughts flickered through her consciousness even faster than they had after her visit to the Icosahedron. She looked straight ahead, making sure that she understood the most important details of Homeworld's true history.

Suddenly she grinned:

This was exactly what she wanted; the truth. Her questions had been answered, mostly, and she was looking forward to working with Bixbite on projects that only they'd be allowed to work on, enjoying all the perks that would certainly come with an Authority level task like theirs.

"Do either of you have any questions?" Blue Diamond asked firmly, breaking the silence and bringing Peridot back from her daydream.

There was one part of the story that still didn't make sense to her:

"Yes, Empress. The Gems that followed Rose Quartz were either shattered on Earth or on Homeworld, but… surely there'd be _someone_ who'd notice that the Fourth Shard and its representative just 'disappeared'?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" White Diamond said, returning to the conversation, "But as circumstance has proved, people can become remarkable forgetful after a few hundred years without hope or order. It appears that they were so glad of the stability that the First Triumvirate brought, that they were content to accept the new way Homeworld was going to be run. And don't forget, the new system was always meant to address the grievances people had against the old one: by eliminating the need for the Fourth Shard, they eliminated the desire for it to be brought back." she answered rather dismissively.

Peridot wasn't entirely convinced, but chose not to press the matter. After the first few historians went missing any interest in the Fourth Shard probably disappeared, she mused.

"What happened to White Diamond -the one with the plan, I mean? …Empress." Bixbite asked cautiously.

White Diamond's smirk reappeared.

"You know she vanished after the Authority was disbanded; now she's in a safe place. When her part in the scheme of the three Diamonds was finished, she requested to be shattered by the diamonds she'd assembled. They tried to persuade her to be bubbled instead, but she deemed that inelegant and demanded that they do as she asked, or she would do it herself. So they shattered her, and set her broken gem in a marble statue of her: somewhere that is never visited by people who aren't Triumvirs or pearls." she declared with a knowing smile.

There was another pause before Bixbite brought up the next thing to consider:

"So… what do you want us to do now?"

"For now, nothing. Your only order at the moment is to inform us when the Red Eye fails to return, at which point you will receive new commands." said Blue Diamond without wasting any time or words. "You said that the device would take roughly three months to come back if Gems were found, correct?"

"Yes, Empress." the two said in unison.

"And how long has it been since you dispatched it?"

"Umm-"

"Two months and seven days." Peridot told her with quick, friendly glance at Bixbite. She was like that with dates and figures… Bixbite would understand.

"Very good. So we won't be expecting anything from you until say… the middle of next month." Blue Diamond confirmed.

"And we just... go to work, as normal?" Peridot asked tentatively.

"Yes, Peridot, for the time being you two can continue as though this never happened. Your absences today have been taken care of, and so you have the rest of the day to do what you feel like. Of course, going back to work isn't advisable, though your cover stories do give you room to do that if you want; in that case you'll need to read them _before_ you arrive."

"Thank you, Empress."

"Yes. In addition to your cover stories the transcript of this meeting, and the formal version of what you've been told today will be sent to you. Diamonds, is there anything else you want to add?"

"No thank you, Blue Diamond." Corona said, smiling at how strange it felt to call Essence by her shortened title. Pavilion merely shook her head.

"Peridot, Bixbite?"

"No, thank you Empress.", "No, Empress." the pair responded.

Jarringly, Blue Diamond looked into both of their eyes in turn with a piercing, steely glare. Blue Diamond lowered her voice, which seemed to make the background noise quieter. Transfixed by the Triumvir, the two stiffened in their chairs as they were treated to the most intimidating words that either of them had ever heard:

"I'm sure you need no reminding, but the things we've spoken about today are to be discussed only with the key personnel permitted to discuss them. Your skills are useful, which is why you've not been shattered for your actions, but that doesn't make you indispensable; make no mistake, if you share _anything_ you shouldn't, with _anyone_ you shouldn't - even by accident, or through carelessness - then you'll find us far less forgiving.

If you're responsible for an information leak we _will_ trace it back to you, and when we do, we'll use your gems in ways so exotic that you'll will wish we _had_ decided to shatter you today..."

Bixbite stared at Blue Diamond in open-mouthed horror and Peridot's eyes went wide, her face frozen with fear.

"You understand then?" she prompted.

"Yes, Empress." they said together, loudly, clearly and hastily.

"Good. Then I bring today's meeting to a close."

As Bixbite had seen her do before, Blue Diamond laid a hand on the table's glossy surface and summoned Shell. Their business concluded, the Diamonds rose from the table and the yellow Shard representative made her way towards them.

"Peridot, Bixbite, I look forward to working with you in the future." she said, shaking each of their hands in turn.

The power that radiated from her (from all three of the Diamonds in fact) was even more pronounced as Peridot stood opposite her, and her handshake gave the impression of intense strength in a comparatively compact body.

Comparatively... Between White Diamond, Yellow Diamond and Bixbite, she felt short: the only person that was smaller than her was Blue Diamond, and she made her feel small in a totally different way...

Though she had addressed them both, Yellow Diamond's watchful eyes made it clear that she was more interested in Peridot, in the same way that White and Blue Diamond had taken more of an interest in Bixbite. Blue Diamond was eying her partner strangely: assessing, or studying her almost; a lot like what Yellow Diamond was doing to her...

'That can't be good.' thought Peridot apprehensively.

White Diamond was admiring Bixbite when she met Peridot's eye; with a smile she went right back to what she was doing, first making Peridot scowl, and then blush as realised the Diamond was making her jealous. Luckily it wasn't long before Blue Diamond's pearl appeared in the room, awaiting further instruction.

"Shell, please take Peridot and Bixbite to the warp pad. We'll be in the council's chamber when you get back."

"Yes, mistress." she replied with a nod. Facing the two of them she said, "please, follow me."

Her smile made it clear that she was very pleased to see them again.

...

When the walls had closed behind the departing trio, Corona burst out laughing. Pavilion and Essence waited patiently for her to stop, so they could see what was so funny _this_ time.

"Did you _see_ their faces when she threatened them! You couldn't recreate expressions like that if you tried: I wish one of the pearls had been here to catch it close up." she explained between chuckles, "I don't know how I managed to keep a straight face."

Pavilion had to smile at how amused Corona was by such a simple thing.

"But what exactly did you mean by 'exotic'?" she questioned, quickly regaining a measure of seriousness.

"I didn't have anything specific in mind; it was just to get the point across." Essence said. Then with an evil grin she added:

"But I'm sure you can use your imagination..."

Corona quickly moved the conversation onwards, preferring not to think about the punishments that Essence could inflict.

"Yes, well… I'm certain they received your point loud and clear. But don't you think that was rather severe?"

"Severe? Those were just words: things will get severe if they fail to comply with our conditions."

"Do you think that there's any chance that they won't comply, after your little warning?"

"There's always a chance of the unlikely occurring, even if it's very slim on this occasion." Essence said warily.

"You still don't trust them, do you?" Pavilion interjected.

"I trust Bixbite. Even with her loyalty to Peridot, she won't be a problem." the blue Diamond said confidently, "but Peridot herself… she's devious; thinks she's pretty smart… and she's already shown that she'll break some serious rules for personal gain... Like I said before, we need to be wary of her; you both know how much damage a rogue asset can do." Essence clarified.

"Mmm." agreed Pavilion, quietly comparing Essence's evaluation of Peridot against her own once again.

"So, at what stage do you think we should give them the details of the resonance engine? A head start in that area might be invaluable, _if_ anything were to go wrong." Corona proposed.

"The kindergarten isn't even active yet: we need to start with Five before we even consider the projects in the other Facets. There are more important things to consider for the time being."

"And starting with Facet Five would give Peridot ample chance to show Essence that she's loyal to our cause." Pavilion said definitively.

_The Fifth Triumvirate began to move towards the door, making their way into the hidden depths of the Adamantine Palace..._

…

When Bixbite asked Peridot where she wanted to go, she grasped her slender red hand and led her onto the warp pad.

"Close your eyes." she whispered.

Bixbite heard the chime as the pad activated, and felt the coolness on her skin as they drifted through the warp stream. Then there was stillness.

Wherever they'd arrived was **hot**.

"You can open them now." Peridot said.

"Ohhh, Peri." she said affectionately, putting her hands on Peridot's shoulders and lightly kissing her gem. "It's nice here." She looked around, taking in the daytime scenery of the Lesser Amorphous Desert; it really _was_ nice, perfect in its simple way: the sky was a cloudless, pretty blue, the sand was a beautiful golden yellow, and in the distance the mountains sat high and proud, adding character to the landscape.

When she let go of Peridot, the green Gem fiddled with the pins in her hair and rapidly shook her head, allowing her blonde locks to hang free. Bixbite giggled at the sight.

"Thank you for bringing us here -I mean, really thank you, but ummm… is there something that you wanted to do here? It's just -I mean, I don't have my key or anything so it-" she started, genuinely happy to be there, but wondering why they were there.

"Bixbite-"

"I do _want_ to be here, with you. But it's strange -well not _strange_ strange… I just mean that, you know, you don't really like surprises -not that this was a surprise for you, but…" She was getting her strands of thought tangled: she was aware that Peridot was trying to interrupt her, but… she just needed to start in the right place, then Peridot would know what she was trying to say.

"Bixbite-"

"This… you know, the war and the Diamonds and the Earth and everything, it doesn't change how I feel about you: I still want to be with you. We can get through this together! I can be-"

"SHHHHH!" Peridot exclaimed.

It was crude, but she had to get Bixbite to stop speaking somehow, and words hadn't been very effective. "Sorry, but you weren't making any sense… at all. Well, I understood the words, but not where it was all coming from."

Bixbite had looked shocked at the interruption, and then upset and exhausted; she sniffed, and Peridot saw the tears forming in her eyes. She realised that she still had a lot to learn about Bixbite: she, her personality, and the feelings she inspired… the way that her different thoughts and emotions must mix together in her mind, to come out of her mouth and eventually (and sometimes eventually took a long time to come) form that peculiar Bixbiteish logic… it was all so complicated.

 _She_ , was so complicated.

Peridot smiled at her, feeling a renewed love for the Gem that had chosen her, and that she'd chosen in turn; she hugged her tightly, to let her know that any of her fears about their relationship were unfounded - at least, she thought it would let her know… somehow: she was still quite new to romantic relationships, but gestures like that felt like they conveyed a lot, which was good enough for her.

Bixbite put her arms around Peridot, crying, but laughing at how silly she could be sometimes. She sighed happily.

"I brought us here to be away from everything." Peridot told her. "And because this is sort of the place where everything began…"

"Ohhhhhhhh!" said Bixbite, finally realising the significance of being _there_ in particular. "Ohh…" she then added, understanding all that was meant by 'everything'. She blushed in the desert sunlight.

"That's sweet, Peri. Thank you."

"You're welcome… And you don't need to worry about _us_ , us is -we _are_ fine."

Bixbite's blush darkened.

"I'm sorry, about that… these last few hours… I just feel like everything's so -it's like the world has been falling apart, and I'm falling apart with it. I mean, I can do my work: machines and graphs and correlations and all that, it's easy… it's fun, and then my mind puts it all together and it makes sense. But being with you -I mean, I love it, I love _you_ , but… I mean, I've always worried about you, but now I have to worry about _us_ too; and then with the pearls and the Diamonds and the 'we lied to everyone on Homeworld and now you're part of it' thing… its -not that it isn't _fun_ , well... okay, getting put in a cell, and maybe-being-shattered, that wasn't fun, but the whole thing is exciting, but it's also a lot to take in all at once… It's unlike anything that's happened to me before… I think I just need some time to be able to deal with it."

'I'm a genius.' Peridot thought.

This was exactly why she'd brought them here, to talk; the sun was still pretty high, and they had the rest of the day and all night to discuss everything and anything.

She took Bixbite's hand again, and the pair started to walk towards the mountains; when night fell, the view from there was sure to be spectacular...

…

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading up to here!
> 
> Like I said at the beginning of chapter one, I have stopped working on the story now, but feel free to make use of its elements: the OCs, the locations, the atmosphere and the ideas; and if you choose to use anything then I'd love to read what you write with it.
> 
> If this and the previous chapter have captured your interest, then I invite you to read my first story 'Infinite Facet' (IF). IF is the story of a Gem created in Earth's kindergarten, and goes into detail of what it might be like to live at the kindergarten, how (kindergarten) Gems are taught to be Gems, fusion and eventually switching sides (among other things... At the moment (21/12/15) IF is also unfinished. As you might expect from me, there's a great deal of romance thrown in as well.
> 
> \- Potential Violet


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